In the End original revised version
by Senpaiidude
Summary: Sakura is stuck with 6 brothers and a jackedup house. But when her mom marries Ino's dad, she finds out, in the end, how bad and good things can be. R&R. I don't own Naruto. GaaSaku, ShikaIno maybe
1. MARRIED!

The leaves swirled along the ground, forming wave like patters as if they were an ocean. The sky was bright and sunny and boasted big, beautiful clouds. The crunch! Under Sakura's feet sounded like music to her ears. The street was well shaded by the trees that lined the sidewalks.

In all of this fall paradise, Sakura felt uneasy, she knew that today was much too peaceful. Something was wrong. She tightened her grip on her back pack, why wouldn't whatever was going to happen, happen already? She continued down the street; she was close to her house. Good.

"Oi! Sakura!" Mrs. Li called. "Good luck with your news."

Sakura waved back to her neighbor. But took a long moment to stare at her as she passed by. What news? What was that insane neighbor of hers that usually hated her so nice today? Sakura wanted to scream. Why wouldn't it just get her already?!

She saw the disaster of a house before she even looked at it. (I know that doesn't make much sense, but neither does her life.) She was stuck with 6 brothers. 6 obnoxious brothers, a single mom who was completely desperate, and a tarantula named Bob.

"Neji! Give it back!" Someone called from inside. There was a crash.

Sakura walked up to the front door, but soon found out that someone had wired it to deliver a shock that would probably knock her out for hours, she went around and climbed through the kitchen window.

"What's going o---" She was cut off when Kiba and Neji crashed into her. She was hit, but jumped out of the way before she could be impaled against the wall.

Kiba was 12 years old. A good immature age. Neji was 15. They were too old for this, but then again, Sai, the oldest, was 20, and he still acted like he was two. There was no age in this house, just toddlers stuck in big bodies.

"Okay," She said, splitting her brother up. "Role call!"

There was the sound of footsteps everywhere, the house was one floor, but they seemed to be coming from above too. The roof. Sakura sighed.

6 boys presented themselves in front of her.

"Age formation!" Sakura nearly yelled. She would only have their undivided attention for about 20 more seconds. The group of boys shuffled around and soon were all situated. She smiled.

"Name and age." She yelled.

"Why age?" The youngest asked.

"So I don't forget how old you are just in case you get caught drinking!" Sakura snapped.

Kiba and several others blushed.

She pointed to the youngest. "Begin!"

"Sasuke, 6."

"Shino, 9."

"Kiba, 12."

"Naruto, 13."

Sakura pointed to herself, "Sakura, 14."

"Neji, 15."

"Sai, 20."

Sakura sighed. Everyone was here. She waved for them all to go continue the business, but grabbed Naruto as he tried to leave.

She hissed in his ear. "I would appreciate it if you kept the younger ones off the roof!"

Naruto nodded sheepishly and disappeared. The house was a disaster. There was food, newspapers, muddy shoe prints on the WALLS, toys, video games, Christmas tree lights hanging everywhere, several chairs hanging from the ceiling.

"What kind of demented demon home is this?!" She cried. "Ugh. Where's mom?"

Shino popped up. She knew he would never lie. He smiled. "On a date."

Sakura sighed. "If she comes home and says she's going to have another child, I'm out of here!"

"Where will you go?" Sasuke asked, appearing next to Shino.

"Anywhere BUT here, and I'm taking you with me." She touched Shino lightly on the nose. He wasn't as crazy and awful as his brothers. He was sweet and honest and always came clean, which is why whenever the guys made the mistake of letting him join in on one of their pranks, they did the best to shut him up. He was awfully mistreated by his own family. Used and abused in that brotherly way.

Sakura sighed. She could use some girl help around here. And not from her crazy slt of a mother.

Sakura sat down on the couch, avoiding a slop of something that looked like peanut butter. She put her hands on her knees and nodded off. When she woke up, the door was opening.

"Hey boys!" Her mother called. She nodded at Sakura. "And girl."

Sakura sighed.

"BOYS!!!" She hollered. "LIVING ROOM! NOW!"

It was not long before the whole family was seated comfortably at the couch, poor Shino stuck sitting in that peanut butter muck.

Her mother sat down and smiled at them all. "I'm sure you all love our big family-"

"Oh god, please don't tell me you're pregnant." Sakura begged.

"No. But, I did get-" She stopped herself and held up her hand, which, perched on the ring finger, was a sparkly diamond ring.

"MARRIED?!" Everyone screeched. Naruto fainted.

"How could you get married, you said you met the guy 2 nights ago!" Sakura said.

"Have you met him?"

Sakura shook her head.

"His name was, Mr. Yamanaka."

Sakura nearly fainted like Naruto. "I-Ino-Pigs DAD?!" She screamed.

Her mother nodded as if it was a good thing.

"But if you're married that means she has to-to….no." She said in complete shock. "I am not living with that pig!"

Mrs. Haruno smiled. "But you have to darling! She's family now, and her father has agreed to take OUR family name since it would just be he and Ino instead of all 8 of us. "

Everyone nodded, except Naruto, who was out cold and Sakura.

"Here, this will cheer you up, try this. Ino Haruno, doesn't it have a nice ring to it?"

Sakura screamed.

* * *

Everyone sat around the dinner table. Except for Sakura, who was hunched over in her chair. The family had to sedate her seriously with some old 'junk-stuff' that her mother had hidden in some bedroom floor boards. She was so none responsive that she was hard to look at. Her face was that blank.

"So," Shino began. "Where are we going to live?"

"Here" Mrs. Haruno said. "It would be easier on us."

Shino nodded.

"Sakura darling?" Mrs. Haruno began.

Sakura only stared down at the salt shaker.

"I think we made her sniff too much."

"I think you injected too much." Neji said, waving his hand in her face.

"Well, if you can hear me…wave your hand."

Sakura probably made the most retarded wave that anyone could have done, but only half because she was pretending to eat an icecream cone.

"Okay, well, I thought that maybe, you and Ino and the boys could bone by going to-"

Sakura's eyes snapped open at the four letters she heard next.

C-A-M-P


	2. Dinner with the freaks

_**I don't own Naruto!**_

_**I'm sorry for all you Ino lovers that I made her a spoiled brat. It's the classic, big family poor child, related to big house, only child, I know, I know, but it was all I could come up with. **__**Sorry I haven't updated either. I needed to finish another story, the Pictionary Games and I didn't have much time to work on this one. **_

Ino felt cheerful. Today had gone well, and now she was driving home in a blue jeep. The once beautiful leaves that had laced her street were cleaned every week, so she had nothing beautiful to look at except the excess amount of trees that lined the boulevard, shading the road.

She smiled and pulled off her sunglasses. _Hmm…when I get home, I'm going to take a dip in the pool, chat online with my friends in my room, have dinner and then watch movies and have a one man slumber party. SUCH, a good plan._ She thought. She smiled and straightened her long blonde hair quietly. Today had been an absolute perfect day so far, nothing could ruin a day this good.

"Hello Ino!' A child called from the side of the street.

Ino snorted at the little girl, she wouldn't return the kindness. She ignored what she said and drove on by, grinning.

She stopped in front of the gate and pressed the call box. "Hello Carl." Ino said.

"Hello miss." A man's voice came. "I'm opening the gate right now."

"We should get this thing password coded, then I wouldn't have to talk to you." She said as she pulled through the opening gate and into the circle drive.

She pulled up in front of the house and ran up the steps. "Alderbraun!" She called. A brown Great Dane came trotting up to her drooling. He was up a little over than her hips when he sat, when he stood and put his paws on her shoulders, he was just about as tall as her. Ino knelt down and hugged him, and then opened the door, letting him in.

"I'm glad I don't have siblings." She said, thinking of Sakura, whom she hated but had too many siblings to count.

She set her backpack down and sauntered in. "Dad?" She called.

"In here." Came a muffled voice.

She smiled and walked into the office. "What' s up?"

Her father looked flustered and nervous. He was putting a variety of things in a cardboard box. "H-how was your day?" He asked.

"Fine." Ino replied.

"Good, good." Her father swallowed hard. "Ino, I have to tell you something."

"Yeah?" Ino asked.

He gulped. "You have a new name."

"A new name?"

He nodded. "Ino Haruno."

"You-"

"Yes."

Ino laughed bitterly, then everything went black.

* * *

Sakura kept herself from crying. Her life was about to change so much. It was about to take a turn for the worst in her eyes. She set down the silver wear around each plate. Normally, there were eight plates around the tiny circle table, but now it had to be eleven. Ino and her dad were coming from dinner, plus, Sakura's dearest friend, Tenten. Sakura wanted Tenten to be there so she could have someone to lean on as her life ended.

"Neji, get down here!" Her mother called.

The black haired boy came galumphing down the stairs. "Yes ma'am." He said.

"Untie some of those chairs on the ceiling so we can have more to sit on." Mrs. Haruno said. "Have Sai help you." The table rarely had all eight chairs around it. They were everywhere.

Neji nodded and disappeared into the clutter.

"Sakura finished setting the plates. Half were just about ready to fall off. "Mom!" She called. "We need a new table!"

"I'll see if I can get one at the store in a week or so." Her mother replied from the kitchen.

"Now!" Sakura said. "Someone's food is going to be in their lap."

"That happens at every dinner." Shino said, appearing.

Sakura sighed and hugged her little brother. "But Ino will tell everyone at school that we're a bunch of uncivilized freaks."

"I thought she already spread that." Mrs. Haruno said.

"Well, it's going to get worse."

Neji and Sai appeared with 3 chairs. Sakura walked up to them and smiled. "Um…that makes 7 chairs. Aw come on guys, where are the rest?"

"Well, there's one tied to the ceiling fan, but, Naruto hooked it up to a vacuum motor so it's spinning crazy fast and we can't stop it and someone's going to get their hand chopped off."

Sakura grimaced. "Fine then, improvise on the rest."

Neji and Sai nodded.

She turned and whacked them both on the head with the butt of a knife. Then said, "Sai, you are 6 years older than me. Neji, you are just about 1 year older than me, well, 6 months, but I'm 14 and you're 15. Can you please embrace some order?"

Both boys stifled a cruel laugh.

"Ugh!" Sakura stormed off. Ino would find some way to make her life worse than it already was. Then the memory came barreling back to her. She and Ino were supposed to go to camp. She had completely forgotten about it. Her mother had told her yesterday, but she had been so busy preparing for 2 new family members, that she forgot about it. She moaned. Was the world out to destroy her? What had she done to deserve this?

"Their exactly at 22nd and Uzumaki!" Kiba yelled, rushing downstairs with a small device in his hand.

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked. She knew no one could see it from the house.

Kiba turned red. "Um…I don't know, lucky guess?'

"Kiba! You little simpleton! You've been setting up spy cameras around the neighborhood haven't you!"

"Not just the neighborhood." Shino said calmly. "The whole city and in women's dressing r-!"

Naruto appeared behind him and covered his mouth.

He laughed nervously. "Kids, their so funny."

Sakura sighed. It was so noisy. Mother had the blender and several other things on. There were crashes and bangs and yells. It was surprising that she could hear what anyone was saying.

Shino wriggled out of Naruto's grasp. "He has them in women's dressing rooms and your show-"

Naruto grabbed Shino again.

"My what?" Sakura said, glaring at Naruto.

Shino wriggled out again. "Shower!" He yelled before being completely dragged away by Naruto.

Sakura bolted upstairs and into her room. She opened the shower and indeed saw a little camera head on the curtain bar, looking down at where she would normally be showering. Her face turned bright red and she clenched her fist.

"Kiba! You little perve!" She screeched. She checked her watch and found that she had time enough to go and kill the little boy, or at least put some serious hurt on him.

She charged down the hall.

She threw open Kiba and Naruto's room. Only to see a shape escape through the window.

"The roof." She spat.

She climbed out the window and got onto the roof. It wasn't flat. It was slanted in that triangle way. She could see him.

"Kiba!" She yelled. She began to charge at him.

She reached him with amazing speed. He tried to scramble away but she grabbed him by the ankles and threw him over the front of the house. He was dangling, with her holding him by the ankles.

* * *

Ino was in the back seat, her dad , driving in the front. They had arrived at Sakura's house. But the first thing she saw was crazy. Her father stopped and both of them pressed their heads against the window, before rolling them down.

Sakura was on the roof, holding her little brother, Kiba, by the ankles. He was dangling over the garden.

"You fcking little perve!" She yelled, loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.

Ino's father raised his eyebrows.

"Sakura, don't kill me!" Kiba yelled.

"Oh-ho-ho, I'm not going to kill, you, but you will wish you were dead!"

Ino gasped. "Hello!" She called.

Sakura's head snapped up. She spied Ino and her father staring at her from their car and completely let go of Kiba. He fell 15 feet, but luckily landed in a big bush. He got up and scrambled away.

Sakura quickly made her to the window and disappeared. Her face red.

Her father parked and Ino got out.

"She could have killed him." Ino said.

Mr. Yamanaka smiled. "He must have done something seriously pervy." He said. They both walked to the door.

Ino rolled her eyes and reached for the doorbell.

"Wait!" Sakura yelled.

Ino looked up and saw Sakura leaning out of the window. She climbed out and hopped down next to them.

"Touch that, you'll be unconscious for a week." Sakura said. She picked up a tormented doll and touched the doorbell, they could see a dazzling array of electric shocks crackle through the air.

Ino jumped.

"Aw man!" Someone yelled.

Naruto and Neji came from the side of the house. Tenten was behind them.

"That's not funny Naruto!" Sakura scolded. She hoisted up a window that was near the door.

"It would be easier to go through a window." She said.

Everyone climbed through.

Tenten hugged Sakura. "I thought you hated Ino." She asked.

Sakura shrugged. "But an unconscious Ino would have been so much more annoying."

Tenten nodded. She turned nervously to see Neji eyeing her.

"In your dreams Neji." Sakura said, shooing him away.

Tenten blushed. "Your brother is 2 months older than me and he is hot."

"I don't believe you." Sakura replied. "He's my brother. Neji Haruno."

Tenten giggled. "I can dream can't I?'

Sakura rolled her eyes. Tenten and Neji had been hitting on each other for a long time. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend, and her older brother, to be dating. She shivered sickeningly just thinking about it.

The group reached the living room. Mrs. Haruno was waiting for them.

"Darling!" She squealed when he entered.

He smiled and they kissed.

Ino and Sakura together felt like they were going to throw up.

"Ino." Mrs. Haruno said. Running up to her and giving her a hug. "You haven't met my whole family."

Ino nodded. Not that she wanted to.

"Boys!" She called.

Soon there was a line of boys in front of the couch.

Sakura, Tenten, Ino and her father and Mrs. Haruno were all across from them.

"Begin." Sakura snapped.

"I'm Sasuke Haruno." Sasuke said.

"I'm Kiba Haruno."

"I'm Naruto Haruno."

"I'm Neji Haruno."

Tenten blushed as he looked straight at her.

"I'm Sai Haruno."

Mrs. Haruno nodded, but Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Wait, where's Shino?"

Sai, Naruto, Kiba and Neji turned red.

"Nmmpphhmmm!!!"

Sakura walked into the kitchen, followed by Ino and her father to see Shino gagged and tied to a chair. The chair was upside down, hanging from the ceiling. Shino's face was red from the blood rushing to his head.

Sakura was quick to get him down, along with the help of Tenten.

Sakura sighed and turned to Ino. "This is Shino Haruno."

Ino nodded and couldn't help but feel sorry for the little boy. Everyone looked at her as if they were expecting her to introduce herself. "I'm Ino Yama-"

Her father nudged her hard in the elbow.

"I-I mean, Ino Haruno." It didn't sound very good. In fact, it sounded completely stupid. But it was her name now.

Naruto walked up to Sakura and whispered in her ear. "What is Tenten allergic to?"

Sakura wasn't even thinking about what he might want with that kind of information. "Cooking oil, you know, that stuff you spray on baking pans?"

Naruto nodded. "She passes out right?"

Sakura nodded without thinking.

He disappeared.

"Okay everyone!" Mrs. Haruno said, clapping her hands. "Let's have dinner, and discuss the girls' camp."

_**It might be going really slow, but it will pick up.**_


	3. The trial

Sakura sighed. She felt totally degraded. Ino felt the same way. The whole family was talking about the camp, and what would happen afterwards as if the two girls weren't even there.

"It's a boarding school during the year, maybe if they like it, then they can go there. I hear it's very cheap."

"Maybe we can start moving in while their gone and then when they come back-"

Sakura finally felt like cutting in.

"If I were Ino wouldn't trust my stuff alone with these boys ever!" She snapped.

Neji, Kiba and Naruto sighed as if a plot of theirs had just been foiled.

Ino nodded. For once she felt thankful for Sakura.

Tenten got up.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, looking up at her panda-bunned friend.

Tenten held up hands covered in spaghetti sauce. "I'm going to go wash my hands." She said. She walked over to the guest bathroom.

"Ino, do you think you'll like being in this family?" Mr. Yamanaka asked.

She wanted to cry , 'NO!!!Who would want to live with these freaks. I'll die within the first week from the stunts I've seen pulled so far!' but of course. The question wasn't really a question for it only had one answer.

"Yes, I think I will." She growled. She began reading her plate like a book. As if it would give her some hidden sign as to how to get around such a mess. Of course, she found nothing and she only leaned back in her chair.

"Shino darling?" Mrs. Haruno asked.

"Yes ma'am?" Shino asked.

"Are you feeling alright?"

Shino turned red, as if startled and shook his head. "I have a cramp, but I'll be fine."

Several boys snickered. "Wuss." They whispered.

Sakura took the opportunity to smack Sai on the head. "He is nine!" She growled.

Sai giggled and rubbed his head. "You don't see little Sasuke complaining about cramps!"

"Shino has true sensitivity and you know what, I think he is the only boy in this family that won't be spending any time in jail!" Sakura snapped back.

There was a loud clattering sound. Everyone turned to see Tenten's arm on the floor. You couldn't see the rest of her as she was hidden behind a wall, but obviously she was lying on the ground for some reason and shaking horribly.

"Tenten!" Neji said, hopping up.

Sakura stood too. "What happened?" She asked.

Neji ran over and soon carried a shaking Tenten in his arms. She then grew limp and unconscious.

Immediately, Sakura turned in furry to Naruto. "Naruto," She said sweetly. "Do you have any engravings you would like us to add on your gravestone?"

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because you're going to die!"

Naruto shrieked as his sister flew at him. She pinned to the ground as he thrashed about. "I'm going to kill you, you little worm! You knocked her out with cooking spray didn't you? That's just plain evil!" She screeched.

"Ah!" Naruto gasped as her hands flew at his throat. She reached for his lucky necklace, the one that Tsunade gave him. She snatched it off his neck and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Give it back!" Naruto yelled.

"No." Sakura replied plainly.

He lunged but Mr. Yamanaka intervened. "Eat dinner." He said.

"But-" Naruto whined.

"Eat dinner!" He said sternly.

"Yes sir!" Naruto sat down.

Sakura turned, Tenten was still unconscious, and she was cradled in Neji's arms.

"You will so die!" Sakura hissed, even though she didn't move.

Ino shrunk lower, despising everyone. Was the whole world out to get her? What had she done to deserve this?

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes and recalled on last night. Tenten had awoken when Lee, a good friend of hers, came to pick her up. The funny thing about Tenten was that, no matter what horrible things the boys did to her (which was surprisingly not much because they thought she was cute) she still loved coming over and hanging out with Sakura. Neji sure as pssed at Naruto and Kiba for spraying her with something that she was allergic to though.

Ino had gone home with her dad and Sakura had gone to bed. She awoke to the rising of the sun. She yawned, and looked over in the mirror and gasped. Someone had written something backwards on her forehead so that when she looked in a mirror, it would be the right way.

She was first filled with anger at them writing on her in Sharpie, but when she read it she could only stare.

WE HAVE A HOSTAGE, IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN, GIVE US THE NECKLACE

"Dmn you Naruto!" She yelled. She jumped up and pulled on some clothes. Who knew what else they could have hidden in her room.

She washed the words off of her forehead so it was like they were never there, but her mind trailed elsewhere.

She thought about the hostage that her brothers might have taken. Her mind wandered, and she wondered where to find them.

"The council!" She hissed. She and her brothers long ago had formed a council called the Council Representatives Against People . Otherwise known as C.R.A.P. Trials were carried out if any serious quarrels arose among the siblings. Sai, of course, was the alleged leader of the council. Trials worked somewhat like this: the council would sit around the Haruno swimming pool. It didn't have any water so the person being tried would stand in the empty concrete pool and look up at the council. Then they would switch with the other sibling who was involved in the quarrel. Whoever was found guilty was put in the empty swimming pool. The council would decide the amount of time that they would spend in their cell. Once it was decided, two people would roll the tarp over the pool and over the guilty person so that they were trapped inside. They would remain under the tarp until their sentence was up and then they were released.

If they had the hostage anywhere. It would have something to do with C.R.A.P. She walked downstairs and into the backyard. Indeed, the council was gathered around the pool, waiting for her.

Sai stood and saluted. "We will release the hostage after your trial is decided and the necklace returned." Sakura felt her pocket, it was in there.

"Let me see him first!" She demanded.

Sai nodded and Kiba and Naruto rolled back the blue tarp to reveal a pale Shino, sitting in the corner of the giant concrete pool. He was shivering and staring ahead, as if he had been brainwashed.

"How long was he IN there?!" She yelled.

"Overnight." Naruto said proudly.

"Shino, are you okay?" Sakura asked. How could her brothers do this to their little brother. Spending the night in an empty swimming pool like a prisoner. Sakura bit her lip, one day she would fear that they would go too far.

Shino nodded as best he could. "I-I-I-I-I'm f-f-f-f-f-i-i-i-ne." He said shakily.

Sakura nearly cried. "Let's get this over with!"

Sai nodded. "The first one to be tried is Sakura Haruno." He said.

Sakura jumped twelve feet to the bottom of the pool. She stood straight in the middle.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Naruto caused her to go into shaking fits and then knocked her out, let me repeat, KNOCKED HER OUT! That could have been dangerous. She could have had a stroke. That could have ended lethally, luckily, things didn't get serious. So out of repayment for his horrible doings to my friend, I….stole his most prized possession."

Sai nodded. "Naruto Haruno?"

Naruto and Sakura switched places. "My sister, Sakura, is obviously exaggerating. She couldn't have died. She couldn't have had brain injury. It was a harmless prank. So, a harmless prank, for a fine, exquisite, prized necklace that is extremely special to me does not seem fair."

Sai nodded. "Shall we vote?"

Everyone agreed.

Sai turned to Sasuke, it always went from youngest to oldest.

"Naruto." Sasuke said.

Sakura made a face.

"And why?" Sai asked.

"Because no one really could have gotten hurt and it wasn't worth taking the necklace." Sasuke replied.

Sai nodded. "Shino?"

"Hey!" Naruto hollered. "The hostage shouldn't be allowed to vote."

"He had nothing to do with the situation, so I think he should vote."

Naruto crossed his arms. "Fine."

"Shino?" Sai repeated.

"Sakura." Shino said.

"And why?"

"Because that could have been serious and a living thing is worth more than an inanimate object"j

Sai nodded. "Kiba?"

"Naruto." Kiba said.

"And why is that?"

"It was a fun little prank. Like we haven't made people go unconscious before with shaking fits. Shino was fine after we tested that machine on him."

Sai nodded. "Right now, it Is Naruto with 2 votes. Sakura with one. Neji?"

Sakura bit her lip.

"S-Sakura." Neji said.

"Aw come on Neji!" Naruto yelled.

"And why?" Sai asked.

"Because Tenten COULD have been hurt and the necklace is virtually worthless compared to a human being."

Sai smiled. "I will now choose…S-"

Sakura pumped her fist in the air. "Yes!"

"S-omeone by the name of Naruto."

"What?!" Sakura screeched.

"17 hours!" Sai yelled.

"You heard the man!" Kiba said. Sakura turned to run, but her grabbed her around the waist. He was taller than her, even though she was two years older than him. "Remove the hostage!"

Neji and Sai helped Shino out of the pool. Then Kiba literally threw Sakura in. She tumbled down and landed on her back, rolling into a wall, her head smacking the concrete. He pulled the tarp over her and soon it was sealed.

Sakura lay there, a line of blood dribbled down her forehead. Her vision blurred as the tarp made everything blue. She sighed. 17 hours. Her head still throbbed from that powerful smack. She could feel it ricocheting through her. Everything went black. Her leg slid forward and fell over her other leg, and she lay there limp.

Neji's POV

I stared at my clock, the sun was still shining bright, but the 17 hours was almost up. I was worried about Sakura. We weren't allowed to pull the tarp back until the sentence was complete, but I hadn't heard a single noise. She usually yelled, or cursed or sang or CURSED or something like that. She was never silent.

I jumped up when my timer went off.

"Kiba!" I yelled. "Time to set the prisoner free!"

The whole council arrived at the pool as Kiba rolled back the tarp.

What I saw as awful.

Sakura was lying there, totally limp, in the same position as how she had landed. She hadn't moved for seventeen hours.

"What's wrong?" Sai asked. "Kiba, go check."

I watched Kiba hop down into the pool and roll her over. "Uh.." He said nervously. "She's bleeding. A LOT."

"From where?"

"The head."

I gasped. "What?" I yelled. "That could mean she could have a concussion or something!"

"Bring her up!" Sai said. He still didn't believe what Kiba was saying.

Kiba hoisted her on his back and climbed up the twelve foot wall to the top. We all circled around her. Kiba had been right. A LOT of blood was nearly pouring from her head. I was surprised she was alive. She got a towel and held it to her head.

"Why are you all so worried?" Naruto asked. "It's not like that hasn't happened before."

"Not this bad." Sai said. "I can't believe we did that to our little sister."

"She's MY big sister." Sasuke, Shino, Naruto, and Kiba said. Sakura was third oldest.

"Guys." Shino said, examining the amount of blood in the towel."I think we need to get her to a hospital. And fast!"


	4. Consider it a prank gone wrong

Ino heaved a sigh of relief. The dinner last night had been a complete and total disaster. She rubbed her head as she had a throbbing headache. She couldn't live with those simpletons.

But it was the weekend and she could do whatever she wanted. She smiled to herself. Just what she would need to get the Haruno family off of her mind. She looked at her clock. It was 5. It was surprising that she could sleep in until dinner time.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She yelled.

Her father smiled at her from the crack in the door that he had made. "Rise and shine sleepy head."

"What do you want?"

"You know, technically, your mother and-"

"Don't call her my mother." Ino snapped.

Mr. Yamanaka's eyebrows drew together and he frowned. His daughter was not accepting this new family.

"Well, Mrs. Haruno and I are technically not married yet. We're engaged. Before you leave for camp, we're going to have a huge wedding to see you off okay?"

"Do I have to attend the wedding?"

Mr. Yamanaka nodded. "I thought that maybe, next weekend, you and I could go shopping for wedding garb. You could help me pick out a tux and I can help you pick out a dress."

Ino smiled. Her father wanted to go shopping with her so they could bond some more before they became part of a new family and he wanted to make sure that she would be wearing something appropriate and not flimsy and small. She didn't like the idea of a wedding. But she sighed and said, "Sounds fun."

"Okay." Mr. Yamanaka said. He left. "Have fun today, I'll be gone for a while."

Ino nodded and rubbed her face. She didn't want any mention of the Haruno family today. Her father had made her say that her name was Ino Haruno, instead of Yamanaka. It had hurt her deeply in her heart.

She grabbed a notepad off of her nightstand and wrote on it. She wrote the same thing on two different pages in big bold pen.

YAMANAKA

She tore them out and threw one in the secret drawer of her nightstand. She would keep that always. The other one she put in her purse. She would carry that one with her wherever she went. She would remember her name.

"Ino!" Came a voice.

"Yes?" She called.

"Clean up your room will you?"

"Fine!" Ino yelled back.

She knelt down by her bed and dug through her purse.

Her phone rang. She looked at it for a second and then answered it.

"Hello?" Ino said, shoving several items below her bed.

"Uh…" It was a younger boys voice. "Hello Ino."

"Who is this?" Ino asked, sitting up. She was wearing long fuzzy pajamas. They were bright, but her face darkened.

"K-Kiba." The voice said.

"Who-" She thought she recognized that name.

"Kiba Haruno."

She yowled. It was one of the Haruno's! How did they get her cell phone number? Why were these little brats calling? She remembered Kiba being the one that Sakura dropped off the roof. "Why are you calling me?" She hissed.

"Uh….funny story actually. You see, we held a trial for C.R.A.P. and-"

"What?"

"Never mind. Anyway, Sakura hit her head on some concrete….and we need you to drive us to the hospital."

"Yeah, and what kind of trap is waiting for me when I get there."

"No! You don't understand. Sakura is….I don't know. But she's really hurt. Consider it a prank gone wrong. We really need you to drive us to the hospital!"

"How did you know that I can drive?" Ino asked.

"Yesterday, Sakura said you had your own car and you drove it around and, will you just get the HLL over here?!!" Kiba yelled.

Ino nearly dropped the phone. "Fine, I'm coming, I'm coming." She growled. "Let me get dressed."

She hung up and got dressed into a pink spaghetti strap and a jean skirt. She ran downstairs and pulled open her car door.

"I have a feeling I'm not going to survive this trip." She said ironically.

Her father came out. "Where are you going?" He called.

"To Sakura's." Ino said. She didn't mean to make it sound like they were friends and she was going there to hang out. It just happened. "Bye."

She pulled out of the gate and rode down the street. She hoped they were just lying.

Shino's POV

I sat nervously by my sister. Sakura was still out cold. Kiba was upset, he thought it was all his fault. He had thrown her too hard. I tried to convince him that these things happen. But everyone somehow finds fault in themselves.

"Neji?" I asked.

My older brother looked at me. Her rarely did that. He usually just ignored me, like everyone else. The only time we had ever spent together was when the guys were doing something horrible to me, like testing a machine, or hanging me from the ceiling, or sealing me in the pool. But this time he really looked at me like I was a person. Like I was Shino.

"We need to take a medical approach." I said. "Can you get everyone to step back?"

Neji nodded at me and pushed Sai, Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke away.

"The first thing," I said. "We shouldn't apply any pressure if we see any skull deformity, if the eye is injured, and we can't try and stop and blood from the nose or ears."

I quickly checked over her head for sunken spots. There was none, so here skull was fine. There was no visible brain. (Thank heavens) Her eyes were fine and there was no bleeding from her nose or ears. I sighed. So this would be easier, but I was just trying to hold the bleeding off until Ino got here. But she lived far away.

We had pulled her out of the pool and I had mentioned a hospital and Kiba immediately called Ino, then he hung up and here we were now.

"Is she okay?" Sai asked.

"I don't know." I replied. "I think the best thing to do is to apply steady pressure for around 15 minutes and elevate her head."

Everyone nodded and watched as I leaned Sakura up against the fence and pressed the towel up against her head. I scolded myself for not washing my hands first.

"Wow Shino, you're girly." Naruto said.

"I'm not girly, I'm smart." I snapped back. "I read about this in a book once."

"What now?" Kiba asked.

"Well, if the bleeding continues," I said, commenting on the blood that was seeping through the towel and down her face. "Oh dmn it!" I growled. "We can't cut off the artery that supplies blood to the spot!"

"Why?" Everyone asked.

"Because, it's in her neck and I can't wrap a tourniquet around her neck! This would be so much easier if it was in her arm or leg or something." I sighed and pulled myself together. "Kiba! Call Ino! Where is she?"

Kiba whipped out the house phone and dialed her number. He paced back and forth. "Uh….hello. Where the hll are you?"

I looked at him.

"Could you get here any quicklier."

"Quicklier isn't a word." I snapped.

He shot me a deadly look. "Uh-huh, uh-huh, it's really bad, get here fast okay?"

He paused for a second. "Really? I always thought that your type of car didn't get great mileage, but the-"

"Kiba!" I nearly yelled.

He looked at me. "Oh, sorry." He said. "Anyway, just get your butt over here so we can get to the hospital."

He hung up.

"It would have been easier just to call 911." Naruto mumbled.

I sighed. I applied the pressure to Sakura's head for 15 minutes and then finally, Ino arrived.

She hopped out. "What's up?" She asked, running through the gate.

"Sakura hit her head." I replied.

Ino stopped and shrieked at all the blood. Girls were always that way. They hated blood. I didn't know why.

"K, I can only get 3 people in my car. That's Sakura, you," She pointed at me. "and….who else wants to come?"

Sai stood up. "I'm the oldest, I should go."

I nodded and helped everyone get her to the care.

"Be careful!" I snapped. "Going into shock can be life threatening."

Neji paled and looked at me. "Man Shino, you rock!"

I smiled. "Thanks Neji."

I climbed in and sat closest to Sakura. Disregarding my seatbelt. I sighed, it was still a ways to the hospital. Could she last until then?

* * *

Shino continued to take care of Sakura. His hands pressed firmly on her forehead.

Ino smirked as she watched Sakura from the rearview mirror. "What a dork." She whispered under her breath. "Getting herself hurt like that."

Shino looked up angrily and then back down, applying steady pressure. "Just drive." He said.

Ino nodded. "Okay then little one." She started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

Sai coughed. "Aren't you Sakura's age?"

Ino nodded. "Yep."

"She's 14, how are you driving?"

Ino shrugged. "I got my license. I really don't know."

Ino charged down the street. Going a little over the speed limit. Her eyes glued on the road. It took them 30 minutes to reach the hospital.

She sighed. "Make sure she's alright will ya?" She said, turning around.

"I thought you hated her." Shino said, helping Sai with Sakura out of the car.

"I do, but if she dies, I won't be able to make fun of her."

Shino scoffed and exited, closing the door behind him.

Shino stared after him in wonder. He was mature for a 9 year old. And for a second, she felt of ping of being proud of becoming his older sister.


	5. The Plan

_**Hahaha**____** I just realized something. I first said that the house was one floor, and then I added an upstairs to it! I know**____** that's not really important but still. **__**It's**__** 2 floors just so you know. **__**Hehe**__**, okay, here's the next chap. It's going to get a little fast and crappy so…yeah.**_

Sakura sighed deeply. She could feel her head throbbing, but not as bad. She sat up. At first, everything was blurry but her vision adjusted. She was in a hospital room.

"Where the fck am I?" She asked.

"Sakura!" She heard someone say.

She turned and saw little Shino smiling up at her. "I'm glad you're awake!" He said. "It's nearly dinner!"

Sakura pulled her knees to her chest. She was still wearing what she had put on that morning. All she could remember was the trial and then….nothing.

She felt her head and felt several stitches. "I hit my head didn't I?" She moaned.

"Yep." Shino said cheerily. "Look at all the blood!" He held up two blood-soaked hands. Sakura turned green and looked away. She was going to throw up.

"Ino's going to drive us home!" Shino said, hopping up. "I don't know why you don't like her. She is a wonderful person."

Sakura snorted. "Wonderful my a." She said.

Shino smiled. "I know you hate her guts."

Sakura choked. "Honestly, we should get you away from those stupid boys."

Shino nodded. "They were nice to me when I was taking care of you." He said.

Sakura looked at her nine year-old brother. She knew that he had the capability of taking perfectly good care of her. Heck, he probably could have done the stitches if he had a sewing kit and the right kind of string. She stared at him sadly. The boys completely ignored him most of the time, until he said something out of term, then they were all over him. They tested things on him. Poor Shino. Yet he still managed to smile. Sakura slid off of the bed.

"Medical bill?" She asked.

"Oh, Kiba stole it out of your wallet." Shino said.

Sakura sighed. She had been saving up for a Christmas present for Neji. He was as rascally as the others, but he had his moments. He wanted a college education for Christmas. Or at least the money for one. She had a good 400 dollars saved up. And she was determined to get enough for him. But now she was back at block one. Penniless.

"Thank you Shino." Sakura moaned. All her dreams of helping Neji amount to something higher in life had just been shattered.

Shino held her hand tightly as they exited out to the car. She scowled at Ino, who was examining a stray pimple in the side mirror.

She climbed in the backseat with Sai. He smiled weakly at her then leaned towards her and whispered, "You know that you have to keep that hidden from the 'rents right?"

Sakura nodded. "I'll find a hat." She knew she would get very far with that lie with Shino, now she knew how the guys felt. Quickly, she scolded herself for ever thinking for one second that he was annoying. He was the one that would amount to something. She sighed.

Ino turned around while the car was in motion. "No one speaks of this!" She snapped.

"We were just discussing that." Sakura said nervously. She was afraid Ino would choke her any second.

Ino nodded. "Good."

The traffic was less heavy, so it took them a shorter amount of time to reach the house.

All of the boys that had been left behind were waiting out front, evenly spaced.

Sakura stepped out before the car even stopped.

"What's up?"

All the boys smiled, but put their fingers up their lips in a silent SHHHHH!

"What is it?" She whispered when she came up to Kiba.

"Mom and Mr. Yamanaka are inside. Hide your stitches. Are you okay?"

Sakura nodded and placed her hand casually on her forehead. "I'll go get a hat." She said. She was wearing a bright long sleeve shirt and jeans. She ran upstairs quickly and into her room. She pulled on a green hat that had a mouth and tongue on the front and two eyes on the top so that it looked like a frog. It was really cute and she put it over her stitches which were over in the right side of her forehead. She placed the hat evenly over her forehead and smiled into her mirror, no cut visible.

Sakura's eyes widened as she saw what was behind her. They had cleared out half of her room and a bed set was sprawled out on the floor. They were already preparing for Ino to move in. And she would stay in Sakura's room. Sai and Sasuke shared a room. Then Neji and Shino. Then Kiba and Naruto. Sakura had always had her own. But now that she had a sister, she would now have to share.

All of her extra things had been placed on her bed. She sighed greatly. She would have to organize it now in HALF the space. She tromped down the stairs as loudly as she could. Angry that they were forcing her to live with a person she hated. It was just the start of summer and things were looking grim. By the start of school next year, she would have a completely different life. Completely.

"Sakura!" Mrs. Haruno called when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Sakura jumped in surprise. "Yes mom?"

"You're just in time for dinner."

Sakura looked to see everyone seated comfortably at the table. Even Ino.

She sat down nearest to Shino. "Hello everyone."

"Where were you Ino?" Mr. Yamanaka asked.

Ino looked around in panic.

Sakura quickly and casually covered Shino's mouth. She hated acting like the boys. But then again, this was the first secret that actually involved her.

"We took Shino to the park." Ino improvised. "And we wanted Sai to come…because he's the oldest. He wanted to make sure no one got hurt."

Kiba and Naruto stifled laughs. "Sai was the reason that she got hurt." Kiba coughed.

Sakura shot him a deadly look. "Don't listen to them." She told her mother quickly.

Her mother looked at them awkwardly and then shrugged. "Okay then."

"Cute hat Sakura!" Ino chirped, trying to change the subject.

Sakura narrowed her eyes as Ino put her hand to one side of her mouth and mouthed _That__ is the ugliest hat I have EVER seen._

Sakura made a face at her and stuck out her tongue. Neji elbowed her hardly in the side.

"Well, we have the Plan to discuss." Mr. Yamanaka said.

"What plan?" Sasuke asked.

Mrs. Haruno smiled. "Kids, we changed the camp that the girls are going to. Instead of a boarding school camp, it's a classic cabin and mountains camp, and…it happens earlier than the boarding school one so we have to have the wedding earlier too."

"Next weekend." Mrs. Yamanaka stated simply.

"What?!" Everyone yelled.

Mr. Yamanaka nodded.

There was an outburst of confusion.

"How can I find a dress in that time?"

"How can we prepare"

"Yada, yada, yada."

Sakura cupped her hands over her ears and cringed. "Shut up!" Someone yelled.

Everyone looked up in surprise.

"Deal with it!" Neji yelled. "Stop acting like a bunch of high seagulls."

Sakura smirked.

"We can prepare in that time. But it will take a lot of work." Neji said, lowering his voice. "So let's listen to the plan. And first thing in the morning. Get to work!"


	6. Accidental bro on bro nastiness

"Beige." Shino stated.

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "I don't think that's really my color." She said. _How does he know what beige even is?_ She asked herself.

Shino put his finger to his chin and frowned. "Hmm…you're right. Beige doesn't compliment your hair." He touched the dress lightly with his fingers and smiled. "How 'bout we shoot for a light color or better yet, PASTELS."

Sakura smiled. "You're girly."

Shino only nodded. "I'm not gay though. Why is it that all men doing feminine things have to be gay? Can't they just be straight AND have a fashion sense?"

"You have a point there." Sakura said.

Shino and she had been at the mall for over an hour. The plan was that the boys would help decorate the park that the wedding would be held at, Ino and a friend would work on invitations and Sakura, Shino and Mrs. Haruno would go shopping. Then, Ino would go shopping with her dad like she had promised. After all the dresses had been picked through, the girls would choose the proper brides maids dresses.

Sakura doubted that she and Ino would compromise evenly.

"Color." Shino said. "We need COLOR."

"I dunno Shino." Sakura said, looking down at her little brother. They were in the midst of a large shop, standing by a few manikins. The shop was rather plain looking so Sakura stood out with her bright clothing. Her brother did a good job of blending in. "Can't we just go with the classic white?"

"That would distract people from the bride's dress. You know that. She wouldn't stand out as much."

"Mom does a perfectly good job of standing out on her own." Sakura mumbled, touching a light lavender dress. "How 'bout this. We get cream white and mom can get bright white. That way she still shines above the rest of us. I think white would compliment my hair, and Ino's."

Shino raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes. "I suppose you're right. Cream white would go well with your shade of pink. Yes, I think we should find Cream."

Sakura started into the maze of dresses. "No. No, that's not right. No. No. Oh my gosh! What is that!" Was what she mumbled as she weaved through the many manikins and shelves.

After about another hour of bickering, Shino and Sakura settled on a cream white dress that was long and with low sleeves on the upper arms, basically meaning that it was strapless. I would look pretty with a small tail of dress touching the ground. The fabric was shiny and when Sakura tried it on, it did indeed compliment her pink hair.

Shino smiled. "And cheap, what a deal. 100 bucks for this thing? I like it."

Sakura smiled and put the dress back. "But we can't buy it until Ino picks hers and then we decide which one. But we can put it on reserve so that they don't run out."

Shino nodded. "I'll do this." He took the dress and ran up to the front. Sakura could only smile at him as she saw him talk to the store manager about reserving the dress. She giggled and wondered how the guys were doing.

* * *

"Oh crap!" Kiba yelled. "I'm going to die!"

"Yes you are Kiba! Now hold still!" Neji replied.

Kiba was standing on top of six wobbling chairs, attempting to put up a wedding banner. Everyone else was supporting the base of the chairs while Kiba clung for dear life.

"Kiba!" Sai called. "Don't worry! We won't let you die! I always wanted to be the one to kill you, not a bunch of chairs."

Kiba sighed. "That's comforting."

His eyes were clouded by his shaggy brown hair. His kakhi shorts and blue long sleeve shirt seemed to stand out against the horizon. His thin pupils were scanning his surroundings, desperate for a way to hang the banner and not die in the process. He lifted a shaky arm and hunched down, trying to keep his balance. With one hand he held the banner, in the other a nail and hammer.

Carefully, he put the butt of the hammer in his teeth and raised the banner.

"Oh god!" He cried. "I wanted to be struck by lightning when I died!"

"Stop complaining." Neji yelled.

Naruto ginned devilishly. "You wanted to be struck by lightning and die? Then you would be the perfect candidate to test my new invention—"

"Shut up Naruto!" Sasuke said. "You're annoying me."

Naruto gave his younger brother a harsh shove and continued to hold the base of the chairs.

Kiba pinned the banner to the pole with all his strength using the nail. Then with his free hand, he clasped the hammer and began to strike the nail, which took a considerable amount of time as each strike caused the chair stack to falter wildly and made him to jump, scream and panic.

"Almost there." He said in barely a whisper. He pulled back the hammer and surprisingly, the banner stayed.

"YES!!!!" Everyone cheered.

Kiba smiled and catapulted off of the stack. He soared through the air, hooting and hollering at his success, then flipped about, preparing for his landing, only to land on an unsuspecting Neji.

He landed forward and their mouths met in utter surprise.

Everyone stood in shock.

It seemed to last forever, the simple, accidental kiss. They lay there for only a hundredth of a second, but it seemed like an eternity before both of them came to their senses and lashed back at each other, yowling and spitting in disgust.

Kiba and Neji flew 5 feet opposite each other.

"EW!!" They called.

Neji choked. "Disgusting!"

"NASTY BRO, THAT WAS NOT COOL!" Kiba spat.

Everyone turned to see that Kiba's jump had caused the chairs to begin to wobble, they came crashing down on the pole. Everyone watched in shock as the chairs tumbled to the ground and as the banner, floated down with them.

"NO!!!!" Sai yelled. "All our hard work!"

"Forget that!" Naruto said, laughing his hardest. "Did you see what Neji and Kiba just did. That's bro on bro nastiness!" He busted up.

Neji wiped his mouth. "I wanted _my_ first kiss to be with-"

"What happened here?"

Everyone turned to see a bewildered Tenten standing there. Her hair was up in the usual panda-bun style. She was wearing jeans and a pink spaghetti strap shirt.

"I-i-i-I" Neji turned bright red. "it's not what it-"

"Did you just kiss your brother?" Tenten had her hands behind her back.

Neji felt like crying and pleading for her to understand. "Y-y-y-you d-d-d-don't u-unders-stand. I-it's n-not what it l-l-l-looks like. H-honestly." He bit his lip. "Tenten…" The words rolled off his lips like a wave in the ocean. He whispered her name softly. He then curled up and looked away, bright red. "Kiba!" He roared. "I'm going to kill you!"

Tenten sighed. "It was an accident, I get it. I just came here to give you this Neji."

She walked up to him and opened his palm, pressing something smooth and warm into it. She got up and walked away slowly. He wanted to cry after her. He opened his hand and saw a smooth white angel necklace sitting in his palm. He sighed happily.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked.

Neji smiled. "One day I was sitting in class and when the teacher walked in unsuspectingly, she scared me and I fumbled it and it launched across the room. I never saw who picked it up. I thought I had lost it. It's special to me, because it's what dad gave me for my sixth birthday. Tenten must have…." He sighed again.

Everyone looked down and remembered their father. Except for Sasuke. He was born when he was alive, but he never got to know him.

Neji held the necklace tightly in his hand. "Thank you…." He whispered as he put it on. He stared in the direction of which Tenten had just come and smiled.

"Oh god Neji, please don't get all sentimental and stuff." Naruto said. "Now, where's Kiba, we have to put that banner back up…."


	7. Two words that can end a life

"Oh God, oh god, oh god, oh god."

"Shut-up Sakura, hold still, I'm trying to zip you up!"

Sakura and Ino were up in "their" room. Sakura was standing rigidly in front of Ino while she tried to zip up the cream white dress.

"This is officially the WORST day of my life." Ino mumbled as she finished up Sakura. 'I can't believe I'm going to be related to you. If only there was a way to sabotage the wedding…."

"Please don't try Ino. I've never seen my mom so happy. And if she sticks to the rules, she will no longer be dating." Sakura hissed. "Don't do anything."

"I don't give a crap if your mom is happy or not. I have a life too you know."

"If you call creaming over hot guys and spreading gossip a life." Sakura mumbled in reply. She sat down on her quilt bed and rested her head on her hands.

Ino's face twisted into something gruesome, and then she looked quickly over her own cream white dress and leaned into the mirror, a make-up brush in hand. "You know," She said in a hushed tone without looking at Sakura. "That Shimmy boy has some real taste."

"Shino." Sakura corrected. "Shino Haruno. You know, soon enough you're going to be related to him and I expect you to know his name."

"I knew it." Ino pouted. "Test me."

"Okay, name them from youngest to oldest."

"And list their age?"

"Yup." Sakura smiled and put her hands at her sides and swung her feet on the side of the bed. Her green eyes sparkling.

"Suzuki, 3. SHINO" She emphasized the name. "7…um….Kooki, 10, Nemi 12, Nataru 17 and Sai, 20." She said in self pride.

"You only got 2 names right and none of the ages and you mixed 2 up. One of those names I told you, so that doesn't count. How can you remember, only Sai?"

"Sakura, your brother is HOT."

"He's 20!" Sakura cried.

"I know!" Ino squealed. "Anyway, well, give me the correct answers."

Sakura heaved a heavy sigh, and began to fiddle with a small bunny stuffed animal in her lap. Without looking up, she mumbled, "Sasuke is 6, Shino is 9, Kiba is 12, Naruto is 13, Neji is 15 and of course, Sai is 20."

"Girl, you have too many siblings." Ino said, still fiddling with her make up.

"I KNOW." Sakura sighed. "And today is the wedding and we're all going to die."

"Shut up whiner!" Ino said, finally turning around. "I love weddings mind you." Her voice was sharp and irritated. "By the way, I was wondering if I could borrow one of you tops for the after-party tomorrow."

"No way!" Sakura yelled.

Ino pulled open Sakura's drawer and pulled out floral spaghetti strap and blue shrug. "These would go so well with a pair of shorts I have…"

"I was planning to wear that!" Sakura chirped. Her voice cracking a little.

"Puh-leez." Ino said. "You don't have enough figure to wear this baby!"

Sakura rolled her eyes sarcastically. Typical Ino. "I'm still wearing it at the party." She said. "It's my top."

Ino made a "Phhh." Sound and lay the top on the dresser.

"GIRLS??!! ARE YOU READY??!!" Came a call. It sounded like sigh.

"Are you Sakura?" Ino asked. "You look a little green."

"I-I'm fine." Sakura did not feel fine. She felt like the whole room was spinning. Like her soul was being sucked out by a scraggly too-small vacuum. Her heart felt like it was lurching and squeezing all the blood and life out of itself. Her world was caving in, as were her lungs.

"Sakura, don't freak on me." Ino said, bringing her almost sister back into the real world. "Let's go."

Sakura followed hesitantly. Tromping down the stairs after Ino's gracefulness.

At the bottom. Neji and Naruto were waiting. Both fidgeting with their tuxes. Neji's hair was brushed and pulled back in the usual low pony-tail. His face was clean and was free of sarcastic expressions.

"Sakura, you look amazing!" Naruto said.

"Perve." Sakura mumbled. Her eyes skipping over her younger brother and instead, to her older one. "Neji! Aren't we handsome!"

Neji blushed.

Sakura's cellphone rang. She flipped it open and her face immediately lit up.

"Hey!" She said. "Oh, oh yeah, sure. I would love it! Okay. See you there! Bye!"

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Who was that?"

Sakura gave a smile. "Tenten, she's coming to the wedding, to give me some back up."

Neji's face paled, his shoulder line tensed. "Tenten …coming …wedding …..see …..me ….Tenten …..wedding …."

He stumbled back and made a run for the bathroom.

"Can you be any more pathetic?!" Ino called after him. "It's just Tenten!"

"He's crazy about her. But I don't think she really cares fro him….Atleast…well, she blushes when he talks to her, if that counts. I think she secretly likes him, but Tenten's not one to show emotions. "

"She's just a dork." Ino hissed. "If I had answered the phone, I would have said 'no'"

Sakura's faced darkened. "If Tenten doesn't come, I'll freak and embarrass you SO badly, kids will be laughing at you for weeks."

"Touche." Ino shrugged and followed the boys out to the cars.

Sai was waiting out by his SUV and Ino's blue jeep. "Who's driving with who?" She called to all the gathering boys.

"Mom and Dad left in two separate cars. Naruto, Kiba and Sasuke will ride with me. Shino, Neji and Sakura will ride with Ino. Got it?"

Everyone gave a simultaneous nod. Sakura gathered Shino and followed Ino to the jeep.

"Shino. You look so handsome!" Sakura chirped. She ruffled his fluffy brown hair. He had his sunglasses perched on his nose. He gave a half-hearted smile.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked. Straightening her dress.

"I haven't been feeling good lately." Shino moaned. "Not in a sudden strong sick way, in that slow irritating way." He rubbed his eyes.

"It's okay." Sakura said in a hushed voice. "You'll get better."

Shino nodded in an unbelieving way.

"Where's Neji?" Ino asked from the front seat.

"Oh NEJI!" Sakura sighed as she hopped out. She raced through the garage, trying not to trip over her dress. She threw open the door.

"Neji!"

"Sakura…." Someone moaned.

She raced to the guest bathroom to see him leaning against the wall. His face was tired as if he'd thrown up.

"Neji? What are you doing?" Sakura's cherry-blossom hair fell over her face. "You can't be goofing off, we're going to a wedding."

"But, but, Tenten's going to be there." He moaned. "If she see's me, and when I kissed Kiba and…"

"Wait…you kissed who?"

"Long story." Neji rolled his head over to the side. "But she saw…and…Sakura, I just can't face her right now."

"I can keep her away from you…" Sakura offered.

Neji shook his head and stood warily. "I'm coming. Don't worry, I can handle it."

Sakura helped him out to the car.

"Oh god, what's wrong with you?" Ino asked.

"Tenten…" Neji muttered.

Ino rolled her eyes. "You all are a sorry sight."

It took 4 and a half hours for the wedding to begin. Kiba HAD in fact managed to get the banner up. There was a stage and a large amount of chairs.

Sakura spent it with her head in her hands. Awaiting the most dreadful moment. Two little words that could end a life.

"I do."

That was it. The very end of her life. This was the end. She lurched forward as Tenten patted her back apologetically.

"Tenten…" Sakura moaned in a whisper. "My life, is over."

"No it's not, Sakura." Tenten whispered in reply. "It's just beginning."


	8. HIM

"Sakura…breathe…." A calm voice said. "Sakura? Are you alive?" The voice got a little more frantic.

Sakura drew in a sharp breath and opened her eyes. Everything was fuzzy at first, and she saw Mrs. Yamanaka was standing over her. And a strange boy with red hair standing by a few others. Sakura blinked and only Ino's dad was left. "Wh-wha-"

"She's alive!" Someone chirped. Sakura could see Shino, looking down at her. Shino was small, and could easily be mistaken for a 5 or 6 year old, even though he was nine. He was barely any bigger than Sasuke. Sakura stared at him for a moment before turning her gaze to Mr. Yamanaka. "What happened?"

He didn't respond, but she could hear a woman in the distance talking loudly on her cell-phone. "Yes, yes. As soon as the preacher said, 'You may kiss the bride.' One of the young bridesmaid's just keeled over and fainted. Yes, a young pink haired girl, probably on drugs or something. I don't know how she might be related to the-Yes. Pink hair. Oh? She IS related to the bride? Her daughter? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk, she might have ruined her mother's wedding…"

The conversation trailed on for a while and Sakura didn't feel like listening. "I-I fainted?" She asked no one in particular.

Mr. Yamanaka nodded. "What happened, do you know?"

Sakura shook her head as best she could. "Where's Ino?" She wanted to know for some strange reason.

Shino jumped up. "She's off fuming that she ruined mom's wedding. Though I guess she should be glad because she didn't want them to get married in the first place."

Mr. Yamanka sent the nine year-old a deadly look.

"Did I really ruin the wedding?" Sakura asked. Her hair falling around her face. She was lying on her back, her white dress around her like a cream stream flowing down. Her arms were up, next to her face, her lids half closed and her mouth hanging open.

Mr. Yamanaka looked flushed and then guilty. "No.." He said hesitantly. "We did get in that kiss before you completely blacked out. But the moment wasn't as…glamorous as I had hoped. Our attention was taken away by….well, you."

Sakura gave out a sigh. "Mom's going to kill me."

"No she's not." Shino reassured.

"Where is she?! I'm going to kill her?!" Mrs. Haruno appeared out of nowhere, snatching up Sakura by the collar. She shook the poor girl back and forth. "Why you ungrateful little punk! I ought to KICK you out of the family, just like my parents did when I was sixteen."

"I'm fourteen mom." Sakura gasped through the violent shaking. "I'm not old enough to-"

"Like hll you are!" Mrs. Haruno roared. "All I wanted was a sweet little outdoor wedding. With a picture perfect moment and a wonderful reception. But know. Sakura can't deal with how little I've asked. She has to go and faint when the preacher says, 'You may kiss the bride!'" Her roar was growing louder and louder. Her face twisting into a red and ugly structure.

Sakura felt like she was going to throw up. The shaking was getting to be too much. She hunched over as best she could as her mother had tight grip of both of her shoulders and gagged, choking. Immediately, her mother's 'claws' released and poor Sakura fell flat on her face.

"Sakura!" Shino yelled. He ran over and patted her back as she gagged.

"I'm---sorry----mom----" Sakura choked.

"I'm sorry mom? Is that all you can say? You should just go and get the f—"

"Darling?" Came Mr. Yamanaka's sweet voice interrupted her. "Why don't we go to the other room and have some cake."

Mrs. Haruno opened her mouth to respond but was swept away by her husband before she could scream in response.

"Sakura….mom WILL kill you when we get home. You know that right?" Shino asked.

Sakura nodded as she lay hunched on the floor. "My life is already over. I don't care what happens to me next."

Shino gave a sullen nod and helped his sister up. "Sakura?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Did you faint because mom and Mr. Yamanaka were going to kiss?"

Sakura pondered this for a moment. Her eyes tightened as she pushed the hair out of her face and sat up straight. Her gaze fell on her younger brother and for a moment, she was completely lost for words. "I-"

Shino's eyes were hidden under his usual sunglasses, but she could tell he was concerned. Sakura fidgeted.

"Maybe." She said.

Shino nodded. "Okay." He said. "You might want to go help Neji. Tenten smiled at him and he's totally bugging out. Because he says she looks really hot in that dress."

Sakura nodded and stood up, surprised by how many eyes were pasted on her. She wobbled a little and tried to find her brother in the busy crowd.

"Neji!" She called.

Sakura's panda-bunned friend bounded up to her. "Neji disappeared." She said.

"You sure Tenten?" Sakura asked, though it sounded like something Neji would do. He was always the wandering type. He had always been so stoic and had never paid any attention to Tenten when Sakura was younger but one day Tenten had to help Neji and once he saw her, he never looked away. It was amazing to see the change she brought about in that boy. Tenten was like a miracle. A living, walking, breathing miracle.

Sakura decided that for the moment, Neji could wait. Her eyes fixated on Kiba and Naruto, who were both goofing around with fake vomit. She would have to kill them later.

"Sakura?"

It was Tenten.

Sakura's eyebrows raised up and she looked at her suddenly nervous friend. "What is it Tenten. Come one spill it."

"Well, I kind of invited a friend of my cousin. He's in town and I thought it would be cool if he came to the wedding. I'm sorry. But- um…maybe it would be better if you see him."

Tenten took Sakura by the shoulders and slowly turned her to face the wide crowd. Then with a graceful finger she pointed out at a young man in the midst of the faces.

Sakura was confused at first, not quite knowing what Tenten was pointing at, but then, she saw what her finger directed. But then, she saw _him._


	9. Cousin and friend

_**Author's note: **_

_**K, so, I mentioned Lee earlier in like the third chapter. And I said he was a good friend of Tenten. Yeah, I'm changing that, so forget what I said in the third chapter. **_

"Oh-" Sakura gasped. Her mouth was wide in his beauty. Her shoulders tensed and she grew rigid. "myglod!" Her words slurred and got jumbled up. She realized how much of an idiot she looked like and shook it off.

"He's gorgeous!" Tenten chirped.

Sakura suddenly turned uneasy. "I-I thought you liked Neji."

Tenten slapped her cherry blossom friend a bit too hard on the back. "Sakura you kidder!" She was laughing a bit too loud.

Sakura could see Neji had returned and was nervously pacing in front of the first row of chairs off to the right.

"Of course I do! He's my cousin's BEST friend. And he is WAY too good for me girl! Besides, I go for the dark-haired, white-eyed, silent types."

Neji heard this and immediately paled and disappeared, probably to go barf behind the reception area and wallow around.

Tenten didn't seem to notice. "He's a real hard shell Sakura," She took her friends arms in her hands and shook her, her face reddening with excitement. "I've known him for YEARS. He is a little tough around the edges and he'll probably ignore you but Sakura. I brought him so you could meet him. I didn't want to like, you know, hook you guys up or anything. I want you to have another friend. I know how you feel about Sasori so, I want him on YOUR side. Seriously, you haven't LIVED until you've met this guy! And played a game Pictionary with him. He's amazing like this one time, he drew this awesome picture of a rocking chair and-"

"Tenten!" Sakura said, shaking her head. She leaned in closer and whispered. "That guy is too positively gorgeous to ever pay attention to plain old me. And I wish you hadn't brought up Sasori…"

Sasori had been Sakura's sweetheart ever since elementary school. He was a year older than her and wouldn't give the whole Haruno family the time of day unless they threatened to take away his all around creepy antique-puppet collection. Sakura had talked to him once and he had scoffed, called her a "hobo" and walked away. She didn't have the heart to give up on him though, but she didn't like talking about him either.

"Sorry." Tenten said. Her eyebrows drew back and she scratched the side of her neck, looking away momentarily.

"This is JUST going to be like what he did to me. He's GOT to have heard about what my brothers DO to you. He's going to call us a hobo bunch and I'll probably ruin yours and his friendship. It will be AWFUL. I'm not going to have that fault placed on MY shoulders. He looks too much like Sasori anyway. It's kind of creepy."

Tenten mock-slapped Sakura across the face. "Sakura! He's known me for too many years to just blow off our friendship over some GIRL. He's a little hard. He takes some persistence. Come on Socks. You gotta meet him." Tenten's face slid into something sly. She put her finger up in front of Sakura's face and waved it. "Plus, if things don't work out between you and him, he has a cute older brother, though I wouldn't count on him though, he's a bit of a jokester and WAY too much fun for you. Befriend him, it'll be like having a copy of Kiba or Naruto."

Sakura felt like breaking down and crying. Crying in front of everyone. Tenten was trying to get her to meet an amazingly hot guy and he would just hurt her like everyone else did. Because SAKURA had 6 annoying brothers. Because SAKURA didn't have a big and tidy house. Because SAKURA had a crazy and evil mom. No one would put up with that. That was why Tenten was Sakura's only friend. Because Tenten need that kind of environment. And the miracle was that Neji was essential for her. And Neji needed Tenten.

Sakura gave a sigh and looked back at the boy. He was practically glaring at Tenten now, though he hadn't heard was she had said, but he could tell she was up to something.

"If it helps, I'll introduce him to you. Maybe Neji and Shino can come as back up. Would that make you feel better Sakura?"

The confused pink-haired girl nodded and trotted alongside Tenten to go and find Neji, who was sitting curled up and pal behind the reception area indeed. He seemed pleased that Tenten herself wanted his company and it didn't take long for the 3 of them to find Shino.

"What are we doing?" The little boy asked.

"Tenten wants us to introduce us to someone."

"Not just SOMEONE," The panda-bunned girl corrected. "my cousin too."

Sakura's eyebrows raised. "He's here."

Tenten nodded sheepishly. "They're tight." She crossed her fingers and pounded her hand once against her chest. Sakura laughed.

At worst of all times, a certain blonde girl hopped up.

"Hey freaks!" She chirped. "Guess what?"

"What?" Sakura asked. Showing little emotion.

Ino stuck out her tongue and then turned to Tenten. "Cute guy. I've met one." She smiled in self-realization.

Sakura's face paled immediately. "W-who?"

"Oh, this brown haired kid, real cute!"

Sakura sighed. Not Tenten's man.

Tenten nodded. "Scuse me Ino. Sakura has to meet my cousin."

Sakura noted on how Tenten had cut out the totally gorgeous guy. Obviously, her friend didn't want Ino butting in on her supposed-to-be-friendship.

"Oh, I don't want to meet your family. Especially dorky cousins. Trudge on sister, don't linger here!"

Tenten pulled Sakura by the wrist and passed the long blonde.

"Check him out!" Tenten said in a hushed whisper.

"Check who out?" Neji asked in the same tone, obviously nervous.

"My cousins friend." Tenten said. "Butt out Neji, you're here for back-up, not talking." She snapped.

Neji took Shino's hand backed away from Tenten a few steps. Sakura was drooling over the guy again. He was so much more good looking up-close.

"What's his name?" She asked dazedly.

"I'll let him tell you that."

Sakura could feel Tenten's sly and devilish grin. She swallowed her fears and followed her friend into his presence.

He was standing beside a goofy looking kid with a black bowl cut and a goofy smile.

"Cousin Lee!" Tenten said running into his arms.

"Cousin Tenten!" Lee said. He gave that same smile and hugged her tighter. "My friends here. Who's yours?"

He gestured towards Sakura and her brothers. Tenten looked at her pink-haired friend then looked at the boy.

"Are you going to give me a hug Tenten?"

Sakura nearly fell over at his voice. It was low and the words he said didn't seem quite right for what he looked like.

"Of course!" She said. She ran over and hugged him. "I want Lee and you to meet my friends. Have you met the Haruno's?"

"Isn't the bride's name Haruno?" The boy asked.

Sakura swallowed hard. It felt weird having this young man say her last name.

Tenten nodded and returned to Sakura's side. "Yeah, these are some of her children."

Sakura scowled. Tenten made it sound like they were little kids. Tenten nudged her hardly in the ribs.

Sakura choked out a smile and gently pulled Shino up into her arms so he was sitting on her arms with his legs spread out around his sister and turned staring at the boy. "Hi." Sakura said.

The boy smirked. "Hi." He replied.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. This is my older brother Neji and my younger brother Shino." She smiled and hugged Shino tighter.

Neji remained silent and scooted closer to Tenten.

"Hi Neji. I've heard a lot about you."

Tenten immediately blushed and Neji paled.

"You have?" He asked.

"Oops." The boy said. "I wasn't supposed to say that. Have mercy."

His face slid into mock-fear and Tenten couldn't help but smile.

"Shino. Heard quite a bit about you. I can't believe you know what beige is."

It was Sakura's turn to pale. How did he know about that?

The boy reached out and put his hand on Sakura's shoulder. His touch was hot and Sakura felt like she was going to crinkle under it.

"Sakura." He said. He smiled slightly.

Sakura felt like crying now. He was so AWESOME. She loved the way her name sounded when it came from him.

"Don't faint." He said. She knew he didn't mean it sarcastically.

"Only if my mom gets married." Sakura breathed.

"Ouch. I'm sorry."

Sakura looked up. "I'll have a new life soon." She looked off to the right into space.

"Cool. Tenten talks too much about you." He slid his hand up the side of her face and pushed back her hair. He smiled. "There it is." He was looking at the scar she had received from the swimming pool incident.

Sakura started to turn red as he stared at her forehead, he removed his hand. "I'm sorry, did Tenten by chance tell you my name?"

"No." Sakura said.

The young man shot Tenten a mock-deadly look. Then he smiled. "I'll tell you my name."


	10. Kidnap

_**No flames if this isn't what you were hoping k? I just had an impulse and none of my stories really ever involved him so….REVIEW PLEASE!**_

Sakura loved the way his name rolled off her lips when she repeated it.

It was a little sharp but then rolled over like a wave.

"Gaara." She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

He smiled and took shook her hand, then he ran it through his deep red hair. He smiled at her slightly then turned back to Tenten's cousin and his best friend, Lee.

Lee must have sensed the awkward moment so he gave a cheap grin and stepped in-between Sakura and the retreating Gaara.

"We should all go to the after party together!" He cheered.

Gaara shook his head passively. "I'm not going to the after party. I don't really do the whole partying thing."

Sakura leaned against Tenten. "Why not?" Tenten was brave enough to ask. "You and S-"

"I would appreciate it Tenten if you didn't try and force a faux friendship on myself and poor Sakura over there." Gaara breathed as he retreated to Lee's side.

Sakura took it extremely personally. _Okay,_ She thought. _He doesn't want to be my friend…that's fine. I'm too plain __anyway,__ probably ruin his social reputation or something. At-least he didn't call me a hobo. _She bit her lip. Her right arm was slack at her side and her left was wrapped protectively over her waist and clasping onto her right forearm.

From the corner of her eye, Sakura could see Tenten's mask of calmness. Tenten would probably pulverize anyone else for saying that supposedly nice sentence in such a manner. But Gaara had indeed been her friend for years.

"Sorry Sakura." She muttered. "I know you didn't want to meet him, I shouldn't have dragged you over here."

Sakura shrugged. Although Gaara and Lee were still definitely in ear shot, Sakura didn't mind talking freely like this. All hope was lost anyway.

Neji opened his mouth to say something, probably rude, and started to take a step forward but his younger sister was quicker to put an arm in front of him. Her chin held high.

"Neji. We're all living people. And you won't be living for long if you say a word or proceed to approach." Acid slipped into my voice and poisoned the already-sharp sentence.

Gaara was smirking now. Sakura this time, to show she was assertive and was not a wallflower she looked into his beauty in the eye. He seemed surprised and their eyes connected for some time until finally, it was the pink haired girl that looked away. Her assertiveness whipped clean of his penetrating gaze.

"Right." He said, in stoic victory. "I'm going to go see if I can them take down the decorations and then I'll jet. Lee you can go to the after party if you want."

Lee nodded as Gaara stalked off. Immediately after the red haired boy disappeared, he broke down into apologies.

"I'm sorry Sakura Haruno. Gaara, he get's that way-"

Sakura chuckled.

Tenten nudged her curiously.

"You're right Tenten. He's a cool kid, though a waste of time being introduced to him since he put me down like that. But, I can see how you like him. Reminds me WAY to much of Sasori though. That might me bad for my mental health. I hope I'm not too scarred. Can we go see what Kiba and Naruto are up to. If we're lucky, we'll be able to call the police."

Tenten looked at her friend in confusion, not knowing whether or not Sakura had fallen into denial or she really didn't care. Her amber eyes searched Sakura's with utter care. Turning up with the fact that, that had been done to poor Sakura so many times that she really was quite used to it, Tenten looked away and dropped the subject.

Shino beamed. "You should punch him sis." He said.

Sakura shook her head. "No, Shino. That would be a bad example for you and the other boys." She smiled down at her little brother. She could see through his sunglasses that his eyes were red and it made hers water.

"What's wrong with your eye's Shino?"

The little boy lifted one hand and snuck it under his left glasses lens to rub his eye. "Nothing, they just hurt a little. Makes it a little hard to see."

Sakura blinked hard. Red eyes had always made her feel uncomfortable, not only did her eyes start watering just from looking at it but they would grow irritated. She glanced away from her younger brother and brought him closer.

"Maybe you have pink eye."

Shino shook a wary head. "Maybe, but it feels like it's coming from behind my eyes. It's really weird."

"Maybe we should take you to a doctor."

Shino beamed again. "No need. It'll pass. We wouldn't be able to afford it anyway."

Sakura sets Shino down and he charges off in direction of the reception area. Sakura turned to Tenten and threw her a half-hearted smile.

"Can we go now?"

"Are you going to after party?" Tenten asked, completely forgetting Gaara.

Lee grinned. "Sakura! You should come! There will be dancing and everything!"

Sakura bit her lip. "Dancing. All the more worse."

Tenten pulled on a sly grin.

Suddenly, Sakura felt herself being grabbed and her wrists being pulled behind her back. She was so shocked that she couldn't find herself to say anything. Whoever was holding her was taller and strong. Quickly, one of their hands snaked around and the other around her shoulders.

"Wh-wha-"

"Thank you Neji." Tenten said, addressing Sakura's captor.

"N-Neji? What?" Sakura wriggled around in her group and turned her face as best she could and she could see her older brother was the one who had grabbed her.

"Neji! Let me go!" She demanded immediately.

"Sakura, you are going to get a life and you are going to like it." Tenten said, as if the start of a very long speech. "So, I'm going to kidnap you to get you ready for the after –party and we will be monitoring you so you don't escape while we're there."

"Kidnap me?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Tenten said. "You are going to make at least ONE new friend at the wedding after party okay?"

"No!" Sakura struggled in Neji's arms. "Neji, let go!"

He didn't respond, instead he said, "Sakura, I feel you need more friend than just Tenten. I will take part in kidnapping you if you can make more."

Lee bit his lip and curled his arms around himself. "I don't know guys. Isn't that a little harsh?"

"Not in this town it ain't." Tenten smirked. She added the 'ain't' probably for effect.

Sakura moaned. "This is awful."

"To ensure you don't escape, we've arranged for a little something-"

"Tenten! No!" Lee pleaded. "That's claustrophobically cruel!"

Tenten towed Neji and Sakura over to a black car that was parked on the side of the road.

"Oh no!" Sakura pleaded this time along with Lee.

Tenten opened the door casually and Neji tossed Sakura in. The inside was clean with light leather upholstery. The outside was sleek and black, like that of a polished black taxi cab. The floor and seats were bare as if the car was brand new and was bought for the specific reason of containing a prisoner.

"Tenten!" Lee called, he had trailed along with them.

Tenten smirked. "Sakura, I'm still your best friend even though I'm holding you against your will so I pinky-promise that this is never happening again." She held out a pinky and Sakura reluctantly shook it with hers.

"I'll come and get you before the party so we can get dressed."

Neji slammed the door and all the door locks clicked from the outside.

"NO!!!!" She yelled after the group walking away. She pounded on the window until her fists grew sore and she lay down across the back seats. Letting the full infliction of Gaara's rejection take over. She HAD cared about what he thought about her. Just like stupid Sasori.

Sakura made a mental promise that she would completely pulverize the red haired Akatsuki member when she got home and back to school.

She pouted and even shed a few tears silently as the hours quietly passed, waiting for the party that would certainly be her doom.


	11. Officially unkidnapped

_**REVIEW OR I SHALL HUNT YOU DOWN AND….DO SOMETHING…I DON'T KNOW WHAT….**_

Sakura felt like she was floating through time and space. Her eyes were hanging half-open. Her hair fell around her face as though she were a dizzied prisoner.

"Friggin' after party." She mumbled in her suspended dimension. "I'm going to die." She nearly felt a knife plunge itself into her chest and the warmth of blood spill out around her. Of course, when she opened her eyes she was back in the stupid car and there was no knife and no blood but there was pain. She wished the car that she was imprisoned in would get hit by a meteor.

"Oh my god she's dead."

"She's not dead. Look she's breathing."

"Barely!"

Sakura sat up groggily and looked at Tenten and Lee standing at the door of the car. The door was open and they were gaping at her.

Tenten slid in next to Sakura and motioned for Lee to close the door behind her and walk away. After Lee was a safe distance Tenten started rummaging through a blue shopping bag that she had been towing.

"I'm not going to make you wear a dress or anything like that. I just thought that a long brown jacket without fur on the cuffs and hood and some jeans, plus a striped long-sleeve shirt would be enough for you…"

Sakura watched as Tenten threw out a long brown coat a orange, brown and mostly white striped shirt and baggy jeans with some tennis-shoes. She took the clothes and put them on while Tenten turned the other way.

"I feel like a hippie." Sakura stated simply after a second. Shifting her legs around in the new jeans and fixing the jacket that fell comfortably around her body and arms.

"Well, you shouldn't. I don't want you in anything too fancy." Tenten grinned a big grin and Sakura studied her. She was wearing a pale pink long sleeved, loose Chinese shirt and loose long khaki pants. Her hair was in the usual panda-bun style.

"My mom made me wear it…you know…." Tenten smiled. "You know how she is with our cultural. She always says,"

Sakura grinned and they said in unison, "Our Chinese culture is like a little candle. Who lights a candle and hides it under a bush?"

They both laughed at Tenten's over cultural mother. Tenten often had to translate for her since her mother only knew a few words in English. But whenever Tenten translated when Sakura was around or Sakura asked what the woman had just said, Tenten would reply with the Chinese culture excuse. Sakura knew she said it a lot.

Tenten opened the car door. "You are OFFICIALLY unkidnapped!"

"Thank heavens." Sakura breathed as she stepped out onto the grass. Tenten's hand clasped her arm, reassuring that she wouldn't run away as they walked towards the gathering group of people. The sun was getting a little low, but it wasn't dark yet.

"You know I'm probably going to die after this right?" Sakura said, spotting Shino and Neji in the crowd.

"Yes, but not during it. That's for sure."

"What happens if I do?"

Tenten grinned. "Then I'd jump-start your heart with the wires from a car."

Sakura shivered. "That's a creepy thought."

Tenten's grin grew. Sakura noticed how stunning and clear she looked. _I guess the animators took a little extra time drawing her…_ She thought. While she stood contemplating the colorful universe that the animator's had given them Tenten ushered somebody over.

Sakura was so lost in thought that when a pair of arms clasped her from the side and pulled her into another solid body she jumped and nearly screamed.

"It's just me!" Someone teased.

Sakura looked up into her new captors face and her face brightened up.

"Itachi-kun!"

The black haired Akatsuki grinned back at her and pulled her against him again. "Socks, you're part of a new family. Isn't that so cool."

"No it isn't." Sakura said into his chest. "It sucks."

"It's just Ino. She can't be that bad." Itachi pulled her away from him to look at her for a second before pulling her face next to his and hugging her even tighter.

Sakura was so happy that her second closest friend was here was her. To see her through a time of trouble. Itachi was almost as close as Tenten and so much fun. Tenten crossed her arms and smiled at the two hugging before backing away to go talk to her cousin Lee.

"Itachi-kun." Sakura repeated.

He kissed her forehead and then grinned again. "I can't wait until the after party starts!" He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "If no guys are checking you out, I'LL dance with you."

She smiled and hugged him again. She hadn't seen him in quite a while. "I'll take you up on that."

Itachi almost giggled and pulled her to his side. "Unfortunately, the rest of the Akatsuki are here."

"What?" She immediately swatted his hand away and turned to him. "Itachi you didn't-"

"It was either that or me not coming at all…actually they felt like coming. Most of them wanted to see Ino join a new family." There was a hint of disgust in his voice.

"I hope Sasori got the hobo wedding that he was wishing for." Sakura hissed.

"Now don't be that way. Come say hi to them." He put his arm around her again and towed her to the group of cloaked gang members.

"No, no, no." was all Sakura could say as they approached.

To her dismay, they started hooting and applauding. Some of them starting singing the wedding march. The leader of the gang said. "Here comes Lady Sakura. With a new addition to her family and new sister to Yamanaka Ino."

"Shut-up." Itachi snapped.

Sakura melted into his side like a frightened puppy. She was frightened of this gang greatly.

Deidara and Sasori were standing side by side. Deidara grinned. "Get a little haughty up on the stage or did you plan it?"

Itachi's face suddenly darkened. "Drop the subject if you want to live."

Sakura stared down at her feet. Biting her lip.

Sasori wasn't even looking at her, instead he was scanning the crowd.

Suddenly Ino ran up and squealed. "Hi!"

"Hey!" All the Akatsuki cheered. "Ino Haruno!"

Ino smirked at them before turning to Sasori. Their mouths met.

Sakura could barely hear the teasing 'ooh's' that followed. She felt the color leave her face and her vision blur. Was it torture enough? To see Ino kiss her forever dear sweet-heart right in front of her? What more could be taken away from her other than her family and possessions. All her dignity and sanity was already gone.

The next thing she saw was the ground coming up to greet her. She crumpled up as everything turned black.

"Sakura?"

Sakura looked up to smile at Itachi and Tenten. Even Lee was waiting anxiously in the back-ground.

"What happened?" She asked through her involuntary grin.

"You fainted." Tenten said. "Again."

"Oh god I'm sorry. Itachi, I must have just single-handedly ruined your awesome rep-"

"Don't ever say that Sakura!" Itachi scolded quickly. "You didn't ruin my rep. They were only laughing at you really. That made me super angry so took you as far away from them as possible before a fist fight broke out. I'm still cool."

"But still it must have-"

"Sakura do you want me to punch some sense into you?" He asked. Actually serious.

Sakura immediately paled. Itachi and herself had not always been friends. Once, he took his anger out on a poor boy whose name she didn't know. She stepped in to defend him and got seriously beaten up by the sinister Akatsuki member. He had broken 3 bones and condemned her to a slightly screwed wrist and many bruises and scars.

She could see his eyes run down her face to her neck, where a long scar wound its way around the area under her ear all and stopped down in the middle of her neck. She could see something flit across his emotions. A mix between sadness and remorse. She did see how he watched that scar. He had decided that a pocket knife might best suit her fate. She knew he felt crushed inside. He felt so bad that he could ever do that to one of his friends. She wanted to hug him and say 'I forgive you.'

"I'll be good." She whispered.

He nodded and helped her stand up. She dusted off her jeans and gave a weak smile.

Tenten sighed. "If this is what after parties are going to do to you, I think maybe it's BEST that you don't attend."

Sakura smiled weakly."I-I'll be fine."

"Oh now you want to go." Tenten put her hands on her hips and scowled.

"I don't want to disappoint you O Great Tenten." Sakura pretended to bow.

Itachi disappeared quickly with a strange look on his face. Sakura was too busy chatting with the now eager Tenten to notice.

All of a sudden, Shino appeared and flung himself into Sakura's arms, tears streaming down his face.

"Wh-wha-"

"I'm hurting!" He wailed.

"What's hurting?" Sakura looked down at him. He was curled up against her chest fidgeting like he was having a temper-tantrum.

"Make it stop!" He wailed over the sound of the crowd. Several people turned to look at the strange crying boy.

"Make what stop? Shino, I can't do anything unless you tell me what's wrong!" Was that panic in her voice? Sakura scolded herself for being so weak. Her arms tightened around her favorite little brother.

"My whole head!" He screamed, clutching the sides of his face and grimacing.

Sakura set him down on the ground. By now a lot of people were staring. She took of his sunglasses and pushed back his bushy hair. His eyes were beat red and they looked like they were…..swelling. Sakura immediately didn't know what to do. His face was turning purple from too much strain on the muscles. He was nearly screaming.

Sakura shook her head and looked at Tenten, her eyes wide with fright. Tenten stood up and disappeared to go find help.

"Shino?" Sakura asked. "Where does it start hurting?"

"My eyes!" He screamed. He curled up into a ball on the ground, still clutching his face. Wailing and crying as he went.

Sakura looked up to see several smirking Akatsuki. "Wimp." One of them mouthed.

The cherry-blossomed girl turned on them. "Shut-up!" She yelled.

"Not my fault he gets a little pink-eye and freaks." One with blonde hair said.

Sakura growled low in her throat. "He doesn't HAVE pink-eye I think it's worse. So shut your stupid, sorry sses up and get the hll out of here."

They seemed taken aback. But unfortunately, Sakura wasn't finished.

"I've seen what you guys do! All you live for is to beat others up and put other's down just so you can fcking feel better about your selves. Now stop being a bunch of sses and go away!"

Many people heard what she said, several of them turned green with her words. The Akatsuki members scowled and turned, but didn't leave. Sakura knew she would pay for what she had just done later. Knowing the Akatsuki, probably with her life.

She turned a knelt down next to Shino, who was still screaming for the pain to stop. It brought tears to her eyes just to see him in so much agony. It hurt her worse than anything the Akatsuki could do. Tenten returned with cell-phone. Sakura scowled at her as that was all she had brought.

Tenten quickly dialed three numbers.

"Yeah hello? I need paramedics out here FAST!"

There was a pause and her panda-bunned friend's face grew blank, then hardened with anger. "No I don't want your stupid package thing, just listen, no, no, this isn't a prank! I swear! There's a little boy out here and he's in a lot of pain in his head. No, no I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! We're at Konoha park! Yes!"

She flipped the phone shut and sighed ."They're on their way."

Sakura turned this opportunity to look at her brother' forehead. "Shino? Did you hit your head?"

"No." Shino wailed, rolling over in pain.

Sakura could feel the tears returning. She cursed them, cursed them upon her father's grave which she immediately wished she hadn't done.

It all kind of flew by in a blur. Shino was taken away with the paramedics. Sai and Kiba went with him. Mrs. Haruno refused to let Sakura or Neji go with him. Sakura sat there, on the grass, tears spilling over her eyes as everyone forgot that Shino was ever in pain and continued with the dancing.

She stared down into her pale hands that were folded in her lap, an pool of tears formed there until Tenten appeared by her side.

"Shino will be fine." Her panda-bunned friend reassured. "Let's just go dance."

Sakura nodded sadly and danced with her best friend. Well it really wasn't dancing as much as it was just shuffling her feet and moving her arms in tiny motions back and forth. The whole time she was staring down at her tennis shoes.

Tenten danced half-heartedly with Neji, but kept her eyes nervously on Sakura.

Soon the crowds emptied. Mrs. Haruno and Mr. Yamanaka were off finishing the cake. Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Tenten wandered down the grounds to go play tag and left Sakura to wander.

She found herself shuffling through the dark grass to the back of the wedding stage to the parking lot. Her eyes down and her hands stuffed inside her pockets.

Suddenly a menacing voice said, "He doesn't HAVE pink-eye I think it's worse. So shut your stupid, sorry sses up and get the hll out of here." It was a tiny whisper.

Sakura's eyes widened in fear.

Another voice whispered with the same amount of acid, "I've seen what you guys do! All you live for is to beat others up and put other's down just so you can fcking feel better about your selves. Now stop being a bunch of sses and go away!"

She turned on her heel, ready to run, but it was too late. Two pairs of hands clasped her arms. She opened her mouth to scream for help but one hand left her arm and clamped hard on her mouth.

"Sorry tinkerbell." The voice said. "But think before you say."

She was dragged over to the back exact back of the stage, the heels of her shoes scraping against the parking lot cement. She kicked in protest, but soon they stood her up on her feet. She saw nine people, her eyes zeroed in on the worried Itachi. His eyes showed a mixture of anger and sadness. Sakura felt tears rise up.

The leader of the gang stepped forward. "Sorry Tinkerbell, but tears won't help you here. Neither will a big mouth for your little brother. Now who wants to do the honors?"

Everyone looked up. Sakura choked a little and stared at the group of people.

"Fine. I'll pick. Itachi. Why don't you do us the honor?"

Itachi immediately darkened into a state of rage.

"I don't want to mention what might happen if you don't follow my orders. We could always get someone who can be a bit more…..brutal."

Sakura felt tears spill over. She could see Itachi's face crumple in pain. "I-Itachi-"

He shook his head. "Sakura, It could be worse….I'm sorry."

Sakura let out a short sob as her second dearest friend stepped forward, and took a deep breath.


	12. Tattle Tale

_**Sorry if the last chapter sucked. I'm really sorry, it was late and I was tired. Anyway, I'll **__**finished**__** what I started so here goes….**_

She sputtered. Dots and lines of red littering her mouth and clothes and ground below her. She felt like it would be less painful to be impaled and left alive. The soreness of her stomach hardened and she felt a crack in her ribs. The rounded fist felt like a sharp rock instead of a dull stone. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for it all to just go away. Why wouldn't it?

Sakura didn't dare open her eyes to see her friend's pained face as if this hurt him more than it did her. And it probably did. She just held on and bit her lip, but the next blow forced her mouth open and more blood to fly out in little drops. She coughed and sputtered without enough time for her to prepare herself for the next punch, and the next.

It seemed like an eternity. Sakura felt an array of sharp things fly across her cheek, leaving four clean slashes in the side of her face. She wailed a little but was cut short by another blow. She wanted to yell, 'I don't care! It doesn't hurt me! But stop for Itachi! Stop!' but she couldn't find the strength.

There were snickers and laughter as she was given a blow to the face. Sakura didn't scream, but the tears of pain increased. How could Itachi listen to the leader of his precious Akatsuki? She began to question how they were ever friends.

"I'm sorry…" She heard him mumble. Sakura wanted to cry out to him.

Suddenly, all snickers stopped as a loud and girlish voice said, "What the hll are you doing to her?!"

Sakura didn't open her eyes but was given one last blow kick to the stomach. She coughed again. She could feel a fresh set of eyes on her. And they weren't evil.

"Sasori? What's going on?!" The girl said again.

There was no reply.

"She is my sister! What did you do?!"

Sakura mentally snapped her eyes open. Of course she couldn't in reality because the thousands of blows like burning knives to her stomach and the inflaming pain of her ribs and face prevented her from doing so. She stood rigid and crumpled over in her captors' arms. Ino had come to save her. Yamanaka Ino!

"That's enough Itachi." She heard someone say. The leader probably.

"I'm not going to forgive you." She heard Ino hiss in the darkness. Sakura could feel her captors' leave with many others.

"Sakura…" Ino whispered almost inaudibly. _I'll lead them away from her. _"Come on…" She mumbled as she turned and motioned for Sasori and the others to follow her. Whispering scolds as she went.

Sakura stood for a second, she didn't want anyone to see her fall, so she made sure all footsteps were gone so she could fall flat on her face on the pavement with dignity. When all breath of life had disappeared she let go of the tiny bit of energy that had been holding her up.

_Here comes the ground…_Her mind hissed as she plummeted forward onto the pavement. But the ground never came. Instead she was caught. In someone's arms. She could feel the person pull her forward into a ball so she could rest against their chest as they leaned over her with both arms tightly around her.

"Sakura I-" The person was at a loss for words.

Sakura took this opportunity to open her eyes and tilt up her chin a little so she could see who she was being held by. Her ear was against their chest and her hair covered her eyes but she could see none other than Itachi's face. It was worse than she had imagined. Tears were coming freely from his dark eyes and his face was pained. Immediately she felt sorry for ever entering his life.

"I-I'm sorry." She whispered into his red clouded cloak.

"What the fck?" He said through a half sob. "I'm sorry Sakura. I could have stood up but-but, he could have chosen someone like Kisame. Anyone he beats usually doesn't live…"

Sakura nodded and hugged her friend closer. "Don't tell anyone…" She whispered.

She could feel his hand brush the cuts on her cheek as he held her face against him, in the protective circle of his arms. "I-I have to Sakura. I-"

"It was my fault I spoke out of term. I'm not letting you take the blame for my mistake." She was surprised at how weak her voice sounded.

"You're mis-" She felt Itachi pull her closer. "No. I WILL hurt you if you think like that ever. Okay?"

She nodded and began to sob. Itachi would probably be sent to prison. And it would be all her fault.

"You should really thank Ino. I couldn't stop until Leader told me to. If she hadn't shown up, I-I w-would have single-handedly k-killed you Sakura. You should be so thankful for her because the gang will actually listen to her, because of her t-ties to Sasori. She basically just s-saved your life."

"I wish I didn't have to be saved. " Sakura sobbed. "Call them back and have them beat me until I'm dead."

"No!" Itachi nearly yelled. "Never! If that ever happens to you, you know I'll just have to die too."

Sakura hugged him closer, sobbing freely. "Thanks Itachi."

"You're always welcome Socks."

They stayed like that. In that painful embrace until Ino and Neji returned. Sakura couldn't quite remember what happened after that because she fell asleep.

"Sakura, you really should calm down!" Ino scolded.

Sakura was pacing back and forth on her crutches. Her chest was sore from her heavy breathing from moving so much. 4 bandages fell diagonally down her cheek, covering the slashes. She had one black and had received so many bruises on her legs that she had to use those dreaded hospital crutches that always hurt your arms after a while.

Her face was torn with worry.

Ino on the other hand was resting lazily on her new bed, her blue eyes following Sakura's every move. She was wearing an unusual ensemble of jeans and a t-shirt, just like her sister and her hands were folded in her lap.

Shino would be coming home after two days in the hospital. He had some sort of illness. The doctors said it had a tiny chance of leading to cancer, but it was highly unlikely. Sakura herself had spent a night in the lonely cold room. Itachi hadn't come to visit her, probably because she was hanging low.

Much to Ino's dismay, Sakura had told everyone that she had tripped and fallen on top of a fire-hydrant, impaling herself and cracking 2 ribs and then slid off and scratched her face on the ground, as strange as it seemed, everyone believed possible for Sakura. The Akatsuki were probably thankful for that, but Ino was rather pissed at her sister's decision.

"Can we go get breakfast?" Ino pleaded.

"No. I'm not eating until Shino get's home!" Sakura snapped back. Against how Ino had allegedly saved her life, Sakura was hating the girl more than usual. Because she was dating her childhood sweet heart and because she seemed so distant and insulting today of all days. As nice as her new sister seemed, Ino threw Sakura dirty looks as much as she could. She ALWAYS needed saving.

"He's here!" Someone called from down stairs.

Sakura sighed greatly and began to charge down the stairs, of course being herself she fell flat on her face in the process.

"Sakura you klutz!" Ino shouted from the top of the stair. She reluctantly helped the disabled Sakura up and helped her the rest of the way down.

"Sakura?" A frail voice said.

"Shino?" Sakura charged into the kitchen. Shino was sitting there. His eyes seemed a strange orange color.

"Um…what's wrong with your eyes?" Sakura asked.

Shino grinned. "The illness developed behind my eyes and so they had to put this freaky orange medicine in them to make it go away."

Sakura nodded and pulled her brother into a small hug. Her ribs hurt from the movement, but she decided to ignore it.

"What happened to you Sakura?" Shino asked.

Sakura's eyes widened. Didn't Shino know? Hadn't he been told her lie?

Sakura turned and looked at Ino pleadingly. Ino's eyes were narrowed and her arms were crossed. Her hip was swung to the side and her foot was tapping. The You-know-you-should-do-the-right-thing-and-tell-them look.

"I um-" Sakura's eyes furrowed. It was harder to lie to her little brother than anyone else. "I tripped on a fire hydrant then fell off and cut my face." She forced a painful fake smile.

She could sense Ino's anger grow ten-fold. But Sakura set up a wall to block her sister out. She was doing this for Itachi. She wouldn't let him down.

Ino walked forward and leaned into Sakura's ear. "I hate this Sakura, but…I understand how you feel. I won't turn him in." She whispered, before turning back to the kitchen.

"Thanks." Sakura mouthed after her sister.

She and her little brother did things together for the rest of the afternoon. Ino mysteriously disappeared but Sakura didn't really mind that her sister was absent.

The phone rang sometime around three 'o' clock. Sakura picked it up while sitting in front of the computer.

"Sakura?"

"Yes, may I ask who is speaking?" Of course she knew who was on the other line but she felt that a good joke could really ease everything up between them.

Itachi laughed. "It's me Socks. Are you feeling better?"

Sakura bit her lip. She was in a lot of pain from moving around and even breathing. Bending over hurt form the internal damage to her stomach and the nasty fist-sized bruise that had developed there. She didn't want to lie, but Itachi would feel bad. "I'm feeling fine." The words stung like a sour lemon in her mouth.

"Good." Itachi said a little solemnly. He probably knew she was lying through her teeth. "I'm sorry…again."

"I know. It's okay I just-"

Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound and then the sound of a door being opened in the background. A gruff voice said, "That's him. Uchiha Itachi."

She pulled the phone closer to her ear. "Itachi? Itachi?!"

The voice in the background said. "You are arrested for 'beating up' a young girl by the name of Sakura Haruno."

"Sakura-" Itachi's voice wavered. "Did you tell?" He sounded panicked.

"No!" Sakura wailed. "I would never..Itachi!"

The background voice said, "You're coming with me."

"Sakura-I-I'm sorry b-"

There was a loud wrenching sound and a cry of pain and the line went dead.

Sakura fought back tears. "Itachi? Itachi?!! Itachi answer me!"

There was no hope. He was gone. Sakura let the phone clatter to the floor as she stood in horror. "Oh my gosh." She sobbed. She cupped her mouth and nose with her hands and let out a sob. Then she collapsed down on the floor next to the computer chair, ignoring the fact that her whole body was screaming in pain to her.

"No…" She sobbed through her hands. "He was arrested! NO!"

"Sakura what's wrong?" Came the call. The next second she saw Neji appear from around the kitchen corner, concern lacing his face.

He blinked once upon the sight of her leaning against the couch, only 5 feet away from the computer sobbing.

"Sakura…" He whispered. Neji knelt down next to his sister and pulled her into a hug. "What happened? Did you fall?"

"No!" Sakura screamed. "Someone told! Someone told on Itachi!"

"Told what on Itachi? What did he do?"

And then it hit her. Neji didn't know. Her whole family would find out that she had been lying. That she had been keeping the fact that she had gotten the sht beaten out of her by the Akatsuki. That the leader had made Itachi do every bit of the beating.

Sakura stared at her brother. For a moment, she was utterly confused. She couldn't just drop the subject, but she couldn't tell either. She swallowed hard and decided that telling Neji would be the best thing to do at the moment.

Sakura explained to Neji about what Itachi had been made to do. Neji was appalled, but understood that jail was not a fate that he deserved in the least. He hugged Sakura as tight as they could.

Mrs. Haruno came bouncing down the stairs after Sakura had gotten fixed up. Sakura was leaning against Neji when their mother found them.

"Kids. We have to go. We've been called to a hearing at the court house. Apparently that Itachi boy has done something wrong-" Her mother paused to look at Sakura. She knew. Sakura broke her glance and instead focused on her older brother's face. "Get in the car." Her mother commanded quickly. "We'll be late."

* * *

"This is hell." Sakura whispered. They were inside the courthouse. In a dark hall, waiting for the hearing to start. The only ones that knew were Sakura, Neji and Mrs. Haruno. "He did nothing wrong and no one will believe me."

"Of course they will Socks. It's not every day that the one who got beaten up pleads that the one who did the beating is innocent." Neji reassured.

"Who could have told? How did they find out? Who would be a conniving snake enough to tell on him…" Tears were starting to form.

Suddenly Ino appeared. Her face was solemn and dark. "I have something to say." She said, she looked like she was fighting back tears too. "Sakura…" She turned towards her sister. "I told."

_**REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!**_


	13. Witness

_**Hey everyone! Sorry for the sucky chapter. I hope you reviewed. Anyway, I'm at a bit of a fork in the road. I want YOU to review and tell me which couple you want me to write:**_

_**ItaSaku?**_

_**Or**_

_**GaaSaku? **_

_**Which couple? Tell me! Vote for it! I'm dying here! I need to know because I can't do anything until I decide.**_

Sakura froze. Her heart turned cold and her face turned pale. "I-Ino…" She said. She gained her words back and stood up, looking her sister square in the eye. "Why did you tell?! You promised!!!"

"I know!" Ino snapped back. "And I'm not sorry. He BEAT you up! I can't forgive anyone for that! I want to see him get locked away where he belongs!"

Sakura felt tears coming to her eyes. Ino had broken her promise to not tell. And she possibly just condemned Itachi to a fate he didn't deserve. "H-" She truly lost her words. She inflicted the full force of her eyes on her sister and turned away, waving an arm as if she didn't care. She squeezed the bridge of her nose and then brought her hand up behind her bangs so that no one could see her eyes. Hot, angry tears slid down her cheeks.

Neji suddenly stood up for his obviously broken sister. "Wait. If you were the only witness. Sakura can testify against you!"

"I wasn't the only witness…" Ino hissed. "Not only will Itachi admit that he did it and willingly go to jail, WHERE HE BELONGS, but Naruto…."

Sakura stared blankly at her younger brother. Naruto's eyes were down on the ground, clouded with shame.

"He was a witness too."

"Nar-uto?" Sakura asked. Her voice cracked.

"I-I saw it. I felt like he was going to kill you sis. I didn't do anything because, well, because I was afraid. I want to see him wiped from the face of the planet. I kick the sht out of anyone who kicks the sht out of you!"

"No Naruto, you don't understand-" She turned back on Ino. She stood again. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!"

"Sakura I-" _I was only protecting you_. She wanted to say, but Sakura cut her off.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR OR SEE YOU EVER AGAIN! I HATE YOU INO! I HATE YOU!"

Ino clenched her fist. "DON'T THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS TO BE PISSED! HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THAT LITTLE CREEP?! HE'S A CRIMINAL. NARUTO AND MYSELF ARE GOING TO SEE THAT HE BE PUT AWAY! WE OUTNUMBER YOU SAKURA! I HATE YOU BECAUSE YOU BETRAYED US SIDING WITH HIM!"

Neji saw how dangerous the situation was getting. Sakura turned briskly away from Ino and began to sob. "She's right!" She hissed in Neji's ear. "Now Itachi is going to prison!"

"No he's not Sakura….he's not…" Neji knew very well that the fact that he would get off free was so highly unlikely that it was almost impossible. With Ino and Naruto against him, Sakura WAS outnumbered, and he would get locked away. He didn't want to see that happen to one of his sister's only friends.

A man in uniform came out of the court room and smiled grimly at them all. "You may come in." He said gruffly. Sakura recognized that gruff voice. This was very possibly the man who arrested Itachi. She knew he was only doing his job, but immediately she hated the man, with every ounce of hate in her. He would go down as one of the partakers in the destruction of her second very best friend. Was that reason enough to hate a person?

Sakura shuffled in after him. He pointed to a place where she was supposed to sit and the rest of her family went and sat somewhere else.

The judge watched a bandaged and bruised young girl enter the room. Her heart was broken immediately. She wanted this Uchiha Itachi person in jail.

Sakura wiped away her hot tears angrily. After a group of people had entered, a loud door slammed and she looked up.

There was Itachi. He looked sleep-deprived and sad, he was handcuffed and escorted by two guards. Sakura stood up.

"Itachi…" She whispered pleadingly. Loud enough for everyone in the room to hear but not too loud.

Itachi only gave her a wary glance before sitting in his spot.

Sakura felt those tears return, and she quickly looked downward so no one could see.

The judge glared hatefully at the Akatsuki boy. How could someone do that to such a sweet looking girl? Things she just didn't understand in court.

Sakura didn't pay attention to the whole set of introductions and the accusation. Then the judge spoke to her directly.

"I noticed that you aren't the one who placed the accusation, Haruno Sakura. Do tell why not."

Sakura grimaced. She hated speaking in front of people. "Because I am on Itachi's side." She said as defiantly as she could.

The judge raised her eyebrow and looked down at a gathered stack of papers. "And…why is that?"

"Because Itachi is my best friend and someone MADE him do it!"

Ino and Naruto immediately stood at the same time. "He could have objected!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura felt those cursed tears return again. She turned back. "He SAVED my LIFE!"

"How is that?" The judge spat. A hint of disgust in her voice.

"The leader of the gang wanted me beaten up. He chose Itachi because he thought it would inflict more pain on Itachi than if someone else did it. If Itachi didn't do it, then the Leader would have chosen someone to KILL me, so Itachi took it so I wouldn't get killed." Her voice cracked every other word.

The judge cocked her head to one said. "Who is making you say this?"

"No one!" Sakura screamed in protest. She hated these people. She hated all of them. "No one at all! Itachi is my best friend! I'm not being TOLD to SAY ANYTHING!!!"

"Please calm down miss." The judge said. "Now I understand that you two are close, but people change Sakura. The two other witnesses say he willingly attacked you and beat you up."

"That's not true!"

"Miss, I know you want to protect your friend, but the majority of the witnesses say the opposite of what you are saying."

Sakura felt those tears fall down to her chin, like a leak of hope in her system, slowly running out. "Itachi?" Sakura asked pleadingly.

She could see something play across her sad friend's face. He nodded. "I-I admit to willingly," He stressed the word willingly, "attacking Sakura. No one told me to do so.."

"Itachi!" Sakura yelled. How could he do this? How could he admit to something he didn't do? HOW?! HOW COULD HE BETRAY HER LIKE THIS??!!

"Miss, calm down." The judge demanded.

Sakura was still glaring at her friend. Tears falling down her face, her eyes wide and pleading. She wished this would all just be over. OVER!

The jury agreed that Itachi was guilty and the judge opened her mouth to say his sentence, but something that Sakura completely didn't expect happened.

The sound of an open door rang throughout the room and footsteps came down towards her.

"Wait." A smooth voice said. "Haruno Naruto and Ino WEREN'T the only witnesses."


	14. Jealous

_**Sorry, I don't know much about the court system so I'm probably just going to get on with this before I look like an idiot….which I probably do…..Also, I know the surprise witness was a little obvious so bear with me…**_

If there was ever a time in her life where Sakura had been absolutely, and utterly, completely, astonishingly surprised, it would be now.

"G-Gaara?" The tears immediately subsided as the red headed boy came floating down the hall. His arms were crossed and his eyes were locked on Itachi.

"Excuse me, but, who are you?" The judge's eyebrows drew together and a frown plastered itself on her face.

"I'm Gaara of the Sand, and I witnessed Sakura getting beaten up. Itachi is testifying wrong. Someone made him do it." His voice was a low hiss but casual, as if he didn't quite care.

Sakura was still utterly amazed. Gaara of the Sand had just come to her rescue! GAARA! She turned back to the judge with a blank face, traces of smugness ran across her features.

"Well, tell me what happened?" The judge seemed to deny that the boy had seen anything. Obviously against Sakura's testimonies.

"Sakura spoke out of term to some gang members. They waited until everyone left until they grabbed Sakura. The leader wanted Itachi to beat her up because they're so close as friends. Itachi refused at first but the leader threatened to get someone who could be more brutal towards her, maybe even kill her…"

The judge nodded and glanced nervously over at Itachi. "Then why would this boy plead guilty?"

Gaara shrugged. "Maybe because he never wants to do that to a friend again and feels he should just get locked just to keep her safe."

Sakura covered her eyes as different tears replaced the angry ones. Happy tears. How could Gaara be so nice all of a sudden?

The judge shook her head. "I'm having trouble believing that."

Gaara straightened up. "Since when do our courts refuse to believe the truth?"

That must have hit a cord because the judge suddenly looked up, eyeing Gaara, and then Sakura, then Itachi. "I-I-"

"He's innocent." Sakura said quickly. The judge glared at her for a little. Obviously making one of those decisions where another person's well-being was at stake. Believe this strange red head and set the boy free? Or believe the blondies and send the boy to prison?

Sakura crossed her fingers. "Please make the right choice…" She whispered. She suddenly felt a hand on her back. She jumped and looked over to see Gaara next to her. He was staring ahead, but spared her a quick glace before righting his gaze. She turned her head forward.

"He's innocent." She whispered.

The judge nodded and declared that Itachi would have to do around 50 hours of community service but was cleared of all other charges.

Sakura pumped her fist in the air. Over on the other side of the room, Ino and Naruto bowed their heads in shame. Not because they were sorry they ever thought badly about Itachi, never, but because he wasn't getting locked away. Ino felt her hate for Sakura flare up again. Just plain flare. How could her one and only sister do that to her? To fight so hard to make a criminal innocent? What the hll was wrong with her? These questions spun through Ino's mind as people began to spill forward. Even a few reporters were buzzing about, enjoying the news that Sakura had thought Itachi didn't deserve prison.

Sakura made her way over to Itachi's side of the room as quickly as possible, forgetting Gaara. Her eyes wide as she threw herself around him in tears.

"Itachi…." She sobbed.

Her friend only patted her back, tears welling up in his eyes too. Soon enough he came to his senses and hugged her tightly with both arms.

"You should have let me go…" He whispered in her ear.

Sakura pulled back. "Is that why you wanted to plead guilty? Was because you thought being friends with me would endanger myself and my family? Itachi I WILL hurt you if you ever think like that again!"

Itachi let himself smile. "I'd like to see you try. Thanks Socks."

"You're welcome. At least you get to help the environment with your community service."

"At least." He laughed.

Gaara watched Tenten's friend hug the Akatsuki boy as they whispered funny and sweet things into each other's ears. He felt the grip of his hands on his crossed arms tighten as he watched her cling to the boy, a fire burning in her eyes, as he watched her cry over him. As he watched the Akatsuki boy hug her and reassure her. He wanted to give up his freedom to keep her safe. What a strong bond….

Suddenly, a ping of something Gaara had never felt before entered his system. What was it? It took him a moment to sourly admit what it was….jealously.

* * *

XXX

Sakura and Ino hadn't talked or acknowledged each other's existence when they got home. Dinner was eaten in silence except for the occasional joke told by Naruto.

Afterwards Ino went to go help Sasuke with a Summer Day Camp project (the first sisterly thing they had done since their family had been united.) and Sakura trudged up the stairs with Neji so they could talk.

Sakura's hands were folded in her lap. Her eyes down as Neji cast a wary glance at her. Now was the truth. He still found himself perturbed at her for not telling of her misfortunate run in with the Akatsuki.

"Next time that happens…I swear…" He bit his lip. "I'll fcking kill anyone."

Sakura gave a wary smile. "Next time….I don't think there will be a next time Nej."

Neji nodded and looked lazily out the window, his eyes scanning outside quietly. Sakura followed his gaze, only to catch something suspicious. There was something on the roof, near the wind. Eavesdropping!

Before she realized what she was doing, she was at the window screeching as she saw Kiba perched there.

"KIBA!!!" She screeched.

Her brother's face fell. "Aw man…I wanted you and Neji to make out…or something…"

Sakura's face paled and a fire burned in her eyes. "What the fck is WRONG WITH YOU, YOU LITTLE CREEP??!!!YOU WANTED ME TO MAKE OUT WITH MY BROTHER????!!!!!"

Kiba blushed and laughed nervously. "Uhh….kinda."

Sakura screamed, well she more like battle cried and prepared to dangle him out the window when someone burst into the room.

"Sakura! You should pack!" Someone said.

"Pack for what?" Sakura asked.

"Camp! You leave at like 5 in the morning!" It was Naruto.

"C-" For the second time in 2 weeks Sakura let go of Kiba and he fell. This time, he was not granted the fortune of landing in a bush, but instead, the concrete walkway had the honor of meeting him.

"Camp?" Neji asked the question for her.

"Yeah! You and Ino leave for that camp tomorrow really early in the morning. That's the whole reason we moved the date of the wedding. Remember?!"

Sakura did remember. She just didn't pay it any mind until now. Her eyes widened and she froze.

"You should make sure Kiba's okay." Naruto said, his brow creasing as he nodded pointedly at the window.

Sakura didn't turn around. "Kiba, you okay?"

A muffled reply came. "I'll clean up the blood. Just wait 'till I get up!"

"Yeah he's fine."

Naruto nodded. "You should still pack Sakura. I don't want you…you know, unprepared."

"What did you hide in my suitcase?"

"N-nothing!" Naruto put his hands up defensively.

Sakura made a Phhhh sound and pulled her suitcase down from the closet. She started throwing random clothes inside to show Naruto that she was obeying and he left. Neji followed their little brother downstairs and Ino eventually came up.

Great. The last person she wanted to see….

Ino seemed just as reluctant to be in the same room as Sakura. Her eyes were hard and her shoulders tense.

They packed in silence. Mirroring each other's movements unknowingly. Sakura checked out the window to see if her poor younger brother was still on the cement, but he had long since cleared out, blood stained the walkway in circular motions, as if someone had attempted to clean it but could not succeed.

She hadn't been paying much attention to camp lately. She knew it had been coming. Why hadn't she acknowledged it? This seemed so sudden and yet she was being so calm.

Sakura slide her suitcase under her bed and heaved a heavy sigh. Ino had been done a long time ago. Mr. Yamanaka came up to wish the girls a good night sleep before the big day. But Sakura didn't sleep at all.

There was a feeling in her gut that something bad was going to happen the moment she stepped out the door. Something very bad.

_**That chapter SUCKED. Anyway, have fun. I'll update soon.**_


	15. Good riddance

_**I thank **__**Sakura4eva for being diligent and sticking with me on this particular story. Thanks**_

BEEP BEEP BEEP FCKING BEEP BEEP BEEP FCKING BEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

Okay, so the alarm clock didn't really go off that way, but that's how Sakura imagined it as she tiredly slunk out of bed.

"Oh my god, it's still dark!" She groaned.

Across from her, Ino was happily sleeping in her little cot. Sakura glared at her sleeping form for a moment before chucking a pillow in her direction. Ino's hand shot up before the pillow could even touch her.

"Nice try loser." She said alertly.

"Wow…." Sakura mumbled, not quite knowing what she was saying. She looked at the clock, 4:46.

Ino sat up and flashed her sister a toothy grin. To Sakura's surprise, ino looked fully dressed.

"Why are you wearing day-time clothes?" Sakura asked.

Ino smiled. "Oh this? I got up like half an hour ago and got ready, then I came back here and tried to get in a little more sleep."

Sakura nodded, momentarily forgetting her hate for the girl. She got up and slid into a baggy t-shirt and Capri pant jeans. Plus a pair of cheep pink flip-flops. Her eyes were half closed.

"You've never gotten up this early have you?" Ino asked absent-mindedly while examining some dust on the night stand.

Sakura shook her head. "The earliest is 7. ALWAYS…"

"Daddy and I used to have to get up really early to get on flights to some foreign country or conference or something…."

Sakura made another phhhh sound as she ran a brush quickly through her hair. "I hate this…"She hissed quietly as she came to her senses.

"Sakura….um….your suitcase reeks." Ino said urgently as she stood over her sisters blue suitcase.

Sakura turned lazily. "It's old." She snapped, turning away. "Not all of us can have designer suitcases from Paris.."

There was a small whispering sound from downstairs. Sakura toddled over to the window and looked out at the misty morning. It was raining outside, but thunder and lightning wasn't too bad.

"It think we're going to die." She stated simply.

Ino fell over on top of her bed. "That was sudden. Since when did you go emo Sakura?"

Sakura made a face. She felt cramped in her tiny room with Ino. The small cots were on different sides of the walls, in between was a nightstand and a window. There was a small closet in the corner and a dresser across from the window. Too little a space for two people, but now she knew how all her brothers felt.

"I'm not emo. Please don't trash them Ino. I have a few um….friends…..who are like that…emo is a cruel term."

It was Ino's turn to make a face. "How do they keep clear skin if they cut themselves so much?"

"I said shut up! It's nothing funny. If you s-"

There was a creaking sound that came from outside the door. Both girls turned immediately to see a hand emerge from the doorway.

Sakura screamed as the hand fumbled along the wall. Suddenly, the room was filled with light.

"Shut up Sakura!" Someone scolded. "You'll wake everyone up!"

Sakura opened her eyes and Tenten was there. Her hand was on the light switch.

"Don't do that ever again!" Sakura said shakily to her friend. Tenten laughed.

"I'm sorry Socks. Look at you! You're off your crutches at least. Okay, I might as well say good-bye, I'm going to miss you at camp. Honestly! Write me every day or I'll track you down and put some serious hurt on you!"

"Okay Tenten." Sakura said with a laugh.

"Okay, I know things may be a little awkward. But guess who I brought!"

"Gaara?" Sakura wouldn't be surprised. He kept on popping up everywhere.

"No. Unfortunately he had to leave town. Such is life. But I brought someone cooler! Someone who isn't an asshole!"

"Who?" Sakura pleaded. "Itachi?"

Tenten's once excited face fell. "Gosh, do you HAVE to be psychic? I wanted to surprise you…" She let out a pout and turned, motioning for someone to come in.

Itachi came bounding in. His smile was bright. "Hi Socks!" He said, striding forward and pulling Sakura into a big hug before she could even return his greeting.

Ino watched from her position on the bed. Her eyes on the pink spread that she had over it. None of her friends really thought of her AS a friend. Most people thought of her as a ticket to popularity. That's all she was. The equivalent to a pretty piece of paper that read:

ONE FREE TICKET TO INSTANT FRIENDS AND INVITATIONS TO COOL PARTIES!

She hated that more than anything. Her heart sank whenever she was reminded of her worth.

_Flashback._

_"Ino, do you think I'll look hot in this?" _

_"Yes Ami, you'll look really hot in that." Ino wasn't really paying attention. She was drifting off in thought about her new boyfriend. His name was Konohamaru. He was a little older than her but she liked him anyway. _

_"You didn't even look!" Ami whined. She turned quickly in a circle in the dress as soon as Ino's gaze drifted to her makeshift friend. _

_"Hey Ino-__chan__!"_

_Ino looked up immediately. __Praying for something to steer her away from the painful dress shopping.__ It was __Moegi__Another make-shift friend._

_"I heard you and your dad are going to a different country." __Moegi__ said excitedly. _

_"Yeah."__ Ino mumbled, now wishing she would be back to staring at Ami. She didn't like it whenever people asked for souvenirs or favors whenever she left the country. _

_"I just wanted to say bye!" __Moegi__ pulled Ino into a big hug. _

_"Hey! Is there a group hug without me?!" Ami whined, rushing over to join in on the little love-fest. _

_Ino smiled. "Thanks guys. I'm feeling generous enough to get you all a t-shirt or something when we leave." _

_"Thanks Ino!" __Moegi__ and Ami cheered. _

_"You leave tomorrow early don't you?" Ami asked. _

_Ino shook her head. "More like, in a couple of hours." _

_"Ouch." __Moegi__ winced. "And you'll be gone for a couple of __weeks__ right?"_

_Ino nodded and turned away to look at more dresses. _

_"Don't worry Ino-chan. We'll keep the school in line for you until you get back."_

_"Okay." Ino liked that idea. _

_Ino jumped out of the car in a hurry. She nearly tripped in her hurry to get to the building. She was returning to the school after her lengthy trip to Europe. Her eyes were locked forward as she rushed into the building. _

_Everything seemed normal. She threw a couple of books into her locker and proceeded to the lunch room. They had only just gotten back and she couldn't make the first half of school. _

_She spotted a few of her friends over at the "cool" table and she rushed over. There was something strange. Her spot was taken, but __Moegi_

_"Uh…hey __Moegi-chan__."__ Ino said awkwardly. _

_Moegi__ turned. __"Oh, Ino."__ She said bluntly. _

_Ino jumped back. "Why are you in my spot?" She demanded. _

_"Because.__ You've been gone so long. I just sat here..." Her voice was growing snottier and snottier with every word. __"I think, I'll stay."_

_"That's my spot." Ino growled. _

_"Not anymore, sorry princess. And the table's full too. Maybe you should just run back to your friends in Europe." _

_Ino looked for any open seats. __"You lying little snake!"_

_Ami jumped up. "Hey! Don't talk about __Moegi__-san like that!" _

_Ino felt her world come apart. Ami had always protected HER! Since when had she started defending this TRAITOR MOEGI??!!_

_"Ino, you're blocking my view."__Moegi__ said annoyed_

_Ino walked away in a huff, she could here Ami call, "Bye loser," as she left. _

_Again, __Ino had to claw her way up the social latter, until she had returned to her rightful place at the "cool" table. _

She knew it. In her world, these hearty good-byes's between "friends" always meant that they would attempt to steal your place while you were gone because you had grown old to them. They were never really good-bye's at all. They were good-riddance's.

Ino nearly felt tears come to her eyes as she watched Itachi and Sakura hug. It hurt her.

Itachi was grinning. "I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear.

Sakura let out a sigh. "Don't ever apologize to me again." Her words were soft.

Soon Tenten joined in on the hugging too.

Ino watched. It was almost an exact replica of that day years ago when she had left for Europe. For some reason, she didn't want that to happen to the sister whom she hated so much.

Tenten laughed. "Okay Sakura. I think your bus will be arriving soon."

"I'll miss you." Itachi said as his kissed Sakura's forehead lightly.

"I'll miss you too Itachi." Sakura giggled. She grabbed her suitcase, which she admitted did reek and motioned for Ino to follow her.

Ino got up. She was wearing a pink shirt and baggy jean shorts with jewels embroidered in them. She too had on flip-flops. Neither she nor her sister were properly dressed for the weather.

Tenten mumbled a small good-bye, but Itachi avoided Ino like the plague. Probably because he hated Sasori and therefore hated Sasori's girlfriend. Too bad he didn't know that Ino and the red head were over. After what had happened to Sakura.

Sakura and Ino left quietly, without waking up the family. They walked in silence for about a mile down the street before stopping.

"Ino…do you know what's wrong with my suit-case?" Sakura asked.

"It looks functional." Ino mumbled, upset that her hair was getting so wet.

"No, I mean, the smell."

"Are you sure it isn't just your disgusting clothes?"

"I'm being serious." Sakura snapped.

Ino leaned forward and opened the suitcase, the smell hit her like a truck and she jumped back. "I opened it, you get to look."

Sakura shakily flipped open the lid and gasped. There was….urine and…….she didn't want to admit what it was…..instead, she screamed. "THERES PISS AND SHT ALL OVER MY CLOTHES!!!"

Ino screamed along with her as the both stared in horror and Sakura's suitcase. "NARUTO!!!" Ino yelled, waking up a few dogs in the process.

"Oh my GOSH!!!THAT FCKING LITTLE TWERP!!!" Sakura grabbed her suitcase and threw it in the nearest trashcan, even if it did get clean, she would never where anything out of that AGAIN. Naruto had obviously made sure she had packed, then snuck in and did his business in her suitcase. WHO COULD SINK THAT LOW???

"Maybe if we hurry, I can go pack a new suitcase!!!!" Sakura yelled, getting up and scrambling for traction on her shoes. The pain of Itachi's beatings returned and she stopped, returning to her spot on the ground. Just in time to see a yellow bus come rolling down the street.

"That's us…" Ino said, still grossed out. "I guess…we'll have to live out of my stuff."

Sakura let out a whine. "You know what those who have been reduced to the highest level of insanity say?"

"What?"

"Oh fuck."


	16. No such thing as 'emo'

_**MUHAHAHAHHAA.**__** I'm mean to Sakura aren't I?**__** Sorry I haven't been updating. I just learned that I made it into boarding school and had to help complete the application process and stuff.**__** Okay then…on with the story…**_

"Brrrrrrrrr." Ino's teeth were chattering. She kept her eyes straight ahead at the murky road in front of them.

The bus was rattling along an old mountain pass, hurtling around thick curves and into deep, winding tunnels. The windows were thick with condensation as the mist from the rainy day outside gather. Everything was dark even though it was the middle of the afternoon.

Sakura and Ino were pretty much the only ones on the bus. Except for one other girl whom they had never seen before but apparently was from their town.

The girl was in the very back row, her eyes pasted into her neat lap. Ino sat a few rows ahead of her near the front and Sakura sat in the other isle and in the approximate middle. Her eyes were glued forward too.

Her glance occasionally drew to her blonde sister, whom she had once again felt hate for. But the cold seemed to numb everything. Including one's feelings.

Sakura bit her lip and looked out at the frosty wilderness. How she would hate to be a poor hiker or animal stuck in the misty rows of trees and land. To have to jump over frigid streams, or maybe canoe across the frozen lakes. Sakura rubbed her bare arms. The t-shirt was thin and the capris she wore were no help to her legs either. Flip flops? What had she been thinking when she packed, and this was all she had to wear. Naruto was to be thanked for that.

The bus driver at the front was a small woman. She seemed not even old enough, or tall enough for that matter, to be driving a bus. Her thick, red, curly hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail while the rest was tucked under a green baseball cap. She was smacking a piece of gum in her mouth, leaning forward every now and then to see what might be ahead.

"E-excuse me.." Ino's voice sounded throughout the rumbling bus. If Sakura hadn't been glaring at her, she wouldn't have known she had spoken.

"What?" The bus driving lady asked rudely.

"W-when w-will w-we b-be arriving?" Ino's teeth chattered in between words.

"We have to stop at 4 more towns and then drive through the pass. About 4 hours."

Sakura moaned and leaned against the rattling window that made her feel like her brains were jumbling about in her head.

Ino returned to her book, a good old book that might do her well in long amounts of time being stationary.

Sakura looked at the girl in the back. The girl had not moved an inch. Her bag rested untouched at her feet, she was doing nothing but staring down at her pale long fingers that were folded in her lap. Her dark blue hair covered and framed her face as she stared downwards. Sakura could make out that she had 3 piercings in one ear and she also had a small nose piercing, it wasn't a ring, but just a tiny itty-bitty jewel on the side of her nose.. The girl seemed small and insignificant, yet very significant and important at the same time. Who was she?

Sakura took the opportunity to quickly switch to the seat on the isle across from her. She looked up to make sure the driver wasn't looking. Then she quickly jumped to the seat that had been directly behind the one she had just been sitting in. She repeated the "jump across then back" tactic until she arrived at the seat across from the girl's.

"Hi." Sakura said, smiling.

The girl's eyes turned towards her. They were surprisingly intense. White and beautiful, like that of a snowy morning. "Hello miss." The girl said.

Her voice was like a velvet bell, if such a thing existed. So soft, like a tiny ring in the deep night.

"I'm Sakura Haruno."

The girl nodded and looked back at her lap. Sakura frowned as she had been expecting her to reply.

"And what's…your name?" She prodded.

The girl looked up. "Hinata Hyuuga." Her voice was so perfect! So smooth! Sakura felt disgusted at her own voice, which now sounded scratchy and deep and annoying.

"Hello Hinata." Sakura said softly, trying to imitate Hinata's voice but failing anyway.

"Come." Hinata said with a small smile. "Sit by me."

Sakura smiled at the Hinata's sudden friendliness. Sakura walked over and sat next to the new girl.

"How old are you Sakura?" Hinata asked.

Sakura wrinkled her nose. So NOW the girl decided to get chatty. "I'm 14." She replied.

Hinata smiled again. "I'm 15. A little older but that's okay."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. This girl was older than her? But she was so tiny! So, you're from our town? What school do you go to?"

Hinata laughed a little. What a beautiful laugh she had! Like sheets of silk being rolled out and made into a beautiful dress that fell perfectly, in waves, around a smooth body. If that made any sense. Sakura frowned, she felt so downsized compared to this small girl.

"I go to Nartleton. School of the Arts. Have you heard of it?"

Sakura knew Nartleton. It was a school for "emo" kids and freaks. That might have explained the three piercings in the upper part of Hinata's ear and the piercing on her nose. She had black pants on, but her jacket was tan and puffy like an Eskimo's. Nartleton was a side-branch of the Konoha Academy, though they weren't connected, they were technically the same school. No one at Konoha Academy like anyone from Nartleton. NO ONE! Sakura felt disgraceful just by taking to Hinata, but she seemed so nice, she couldn't help herself.

"Y-yes I have." Sakura muttered. Tenten's brother went there. He committed suicide last year.

"That's good. And I suppose you go to Konoha Academy correct?"

Sakura nodded.

"Do me a favor." Hinata said suddenly but quietly. "Can you tell me about that girl up there? I think I know her…do you?"

Sakura nodded. "She's my sister." She said with disgust lacing her words.

Hinata raised an eyebrow. Sakura continued. "She's nothing special. She goes to my school. Her name is Ino Haruno…now. It used to be Ino Yamanaka."

"Ino…" Hinata repeated. "She was at one of the sports matches. She 'accidentally' spilled a chocolate shake on my best jacket." Hinata's words sounded sharp too. "She also called me an emo slt."

"Ouch." Sakura whispered. This girl didn't deserve that…did she? She hadn't known her long enough to tell.

"In my personal opinion." Hinata continued. "Emo doesn't exist. It's just a trait or label played out in someone's mind. Created just to make people feel bad about themselves. I believe than there's no such thing as 'nerd' or 'popular' or 'freak' or anything else for that matter. It's all just an illusion."

Sakura pondered the fact before giving a small smile. Hinata and herself talked for quite a while then Sakura returned to her original seat and she closed her eyes. She wasn't even paying attention when the bus lurched to a stop.

Sakura opened her eyes a little when she heard herself being addressed, but this voice was NOT friendly.

"Well, well, well, Tinkerbell, what ARE you doing here? Well isn't it nice that I get to see you again…"


	17. Turtledove

**Ooooooh****! Cliffy! Sorry if it tortured you at all but I just HAD to. ****Muhahahahahaha**** Thanks for reviewing all you people. ****Muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha**** –coughs-**

"Well, well, well, Tinkerbell, what ARE you doing here? Well isn't it nice that I get to see you again…"

At first, Sakura was so surprised that all she could do was stare straight ahead, her eyes wide. She didn't know why she was so scared. It's not like THEY could just beat her up on a bus and not have anyone else notice…right?

"Don't scare her Deidara." Someone else scolded.

Sakura soon found herself and turned her head half-way to look at them, standing over her was a blonde boy, with the black and red cloak of the Akatsuki. Next to him were 3 other boys, one with blue hair and a sturdy face, one green hair and one side of his face darker than the other and one with white hair that was slicked back.

"Well isn't that adorable." The one apparently known as Deidara said. "She's probably scared out of her wits. His hand flew forward and brushed the four slashes on her cheek. Sakura winced a little at the pain and attempted to slap his hand away. His grabbed her wrist roughly and she let out a high-pitched squeak, but he didn't do anything to harm her, instead, he seated himself next to her and positioned her fingers so that they were shaking hands.

"Hello un. I'm Deidara."

"H-" Sakura couldn't find her voice. He was grinning and didn't seem vicious at all. This was one of her captors. Why was he so nice?

Before she could say anything, one of the others took his turn to introduce himself. "I'm Kisame."

Sakura swallowed hard. If one of the gang members were to have killed her, it would have been this young-man. "H-hi, K-Kisame-san and Deidara-san."

"Don't forget us." Someone pouted.

"Oh yeah." Kisame turned and motioned towards the other two. "Tinkerbell, this is Zetsu and Hidan."

Sakura cringed at the word Tinkerbell. "Hello." She said, only sparing each of them a minor glance before returning her eyes to her lap.

"What the fck is wrong with you Deidara. I think that little beating idea of yours has permanently scarred her."

Sakura looked sideways at Deidara.

Deidara raised his hands defensively. "No hard feelings Tinkerbell un. So…" His eyes searched the surroundings hurriedly in search of change of subject. "So um…what's your real name again? You're Itachi's gal right?"

Sakura slowly shook her head. "I-I'm not like d-dating him or anything."

Deidara raised his eyebrows. "Really un? The way he talks about you, I would imagine you two to be intimate or something un."

"He talks about me?" Sakura asked, suddenly curious.

The 3 other boys snickered. Sakura discovered that Zetsu was sitting in front of her and Kisame and Hidan behind.

Deidara waved his arms, "That's beside the point. But if you really must know, yes, he does and he would probably jump in front of a bus for you."

Sakura made a strange face. "Itachi…only seems to have any sense of friendship for me when he's away from you. Why would he-"

"What's your name Tinkerbell." Kisame intervened. "C'mon. Itachi always leaves that little detail out. I'm dying to know."

"But you-" Sakura made a weird motion with her hands. "Yelled my name at the wedding."

"Only the leader yelled it un." Deidara replied. "He knows everyone's name pretty much."

_Wow. _Sakura thought. _That's creepy._ "Well, if you really must know, my name is S-Sakura. Haruno Sakura."

"Sakura un." Deidara played around with the word a little. "Okay, I can get used to that. Sakura."

"Ino's up there." Sakura blurted out. Suddenly remembering the fact that they were criminals and that Ino, being tied to Sasori would be safer with them than she would.

Hidan nodded. "We noticed that. She's been a bit touchy lately ever since the…" He trailed off and eyed the visible bruises on Sakura's neck.

Deidara let out a laugh. "Any one of us try and confront her she'd probably bite our heads off."

Sakura could help but smile a little. Ino was like that. She glanced at the white haired boy looking at the bruises that were protruding over the collar of her t-shirt and she immediately slapped her hand down over them, wincing at the pain. She rubbed the bruises casually, hoping nobody noticed but, in utter defeat, she saw that all 4 of them were eyeing her hand and she could almost make out a trace of remorse in each eye.

"You're an A-hole Deidara-san." Zetsu suddenly scolded.

"We've been over this. If Tinkerbell hadn't mouthed off then we-"

"Shut up." Kisame snapped. Noticing that once again that girl who had just been becoming interesting had sunken back into her shell and had pinned herself in her own little bubble against the window.

Sakura felt the cool of the glass on her cheek as she scooted up as close as she could to it. As casually as she could, she yanked out a black sweater and pulled it over her, straightening the hem around her waist, making sure none of her bruises could be seen and half-covering her face with cherry-blossom hair so her cuts were invisible.

"There's no sense in hiding like that unless you're going to jump out a window." Hidan suddenly said.

Sakura turned back in a huff. "Well maybe I will." She growled. Deidara intervened.

"Watch it un. We always give harmless beatings to people who seem to have no respect. It's no big deal."

"Harmless?!" Sakura turned on him.

"You're not crippled are you? You're still alive!" Deidara countered.

"I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about Itachi!"

No one said anything, and seemed to sink back a little. But Sakura wasn't finished. "I don't care about me. Beat me all you want I don't give a crap, but if you pull some sht like that again, oh-ho-ho I'm going to hit you so hard you're gonna need a new hair-cut boy."

Sakura immediately regretted saying that, and retreated back, but her utter surprise, all of them started laughing. One punched her playfully on the shoulder, of course she winced but they continued to jostle and grin.

"I like this chick already." Kisame said with a smile.

Deidara raised his hand and grabbed Sakura's. "That's nice. Good luck with that un." He beamed at her.

Sakura forced a smile. "Thanks."

"God, compared to the other Turtle-doves, you got some real back-bone Tinkerbell." Zetsu said.

"Turtle-doves?" Sakura asked, her face narrowing in confusion.

Deidara chimed in. "Turtle-dove is our name for the girlfriend of any of the gang members un."

"I'm not dating Itachi…" Sakura whined.

"But we do consider you to be his Turtledove un."

Sakura forced a small pout.

"You should see the Leader's gal. Real pretty one, nice personality, but she is strange beyond belief." Kisame said. "The strange thing is that I think the gang killed her parents, so I don't know why she sticks around. The leader treats her nicely and would let her go but she stays."

Everyone looked at one another and shrugged.

"What was her name again?" Hidan asked. "She's a Hyuuga. And the last one now. We killed off every other Hyuuga out there." His face hardened and grew dark.

"No. Didn't she still have a cousin that was still alive?" Zetsu asked.

Hidan shook his head. "Didn't you hear? He got cancer and Leader ordered Kakuzu should go…ahem…cut off his oxygen."

Sakura didn't like the way that the conversation was turning.

Deidara spoke. "Kisame? Do you remember her name?"

"Aw yeah." Kisame nodded. "I see her all the time. Hyuuga Hinata."

Sakura froze. Hinata? Hinata was affiliated with the Akatsuki? The Akatsuki killed Hinata's parents?! She immediately turned around in her seat and looked back to the back corner. There was Hinata, a hood over her face, Sakura could see her eyes and they looked pleading. Pleading for her to look away and not attract attention to the back corner of the bus.

Sakura turned back and instead busied herself rummaging through her backpack. She had to go talk to her… but how? Hinata did have hood over her face…that could help.

"Excuse me for one moment." Sakura said, getting up and sliding past Deidara. The four of them watched her as she bolted to the back of the bus and planted herself next to the hooded girl.

Without turning to face her, Sakura hissed in her ear. "You know them?"

Hinata's pale chin and mouth were the only things visible from her hood. "Yes. I don't really want them annoying me right now."

"You're dating the leader?" Sakura whispered.

Hinata finally looked up. "Yes I am." She said quietly.

Sakura leaned in closer. "They killed your family?"

Hinata was silent and then she said, "Now don't go getting the wrong idea. It's not like the Akatsuki treat me badly. I'm not just a trophy to be looked at. The leader treats me very kindly and so does everyone else, especially Kisame-san, he and I are like siblings, but I honestly don't feel like talking to them right now. They can get a bit roudy and annoying."

"They're boys what do you expect?" Sakura said, still perturbed at the fact that Hinata was avoiding the subject of her family.

Hinata seemed to sense this. "I'll tell you about it when we get there. But you should go back right now, before they recognize me."

"Okay." Sakura whispered. So they didn't treat her badly. That was good. She ran back over to her window seat by Deidara, only to be greeted with confused stares.

"What was that all about?" Deidara asked, scooting aside so she could sit down.

"Just a friend of mine." Sakura chirped. Why was her voice so high?

Kisame stared at the figure. "Well who could that be?"

"A friend of mine." Sakura repeated desperately.

"Yeah. A 'friend'" Hidan teased.

"Shut-up." Sakura said as playfully as she could.

"I'm going to go see if your friend feels like talking." Kisame said gruffly.

_Dang it._ Sakura thought. She looked around for something to distract them from going over to Hinata. But she didn't have to. Because at that moment, something amazing happened.

"Wait." Deidara said in amazement/excitement. He tapped Kisame's shoulder. He pointed to two figures that had just gotten on. "Of all people. Look who the cat dragged in."


	18. The Leech

"Of all people, look who the cat dragged in." Deidara hooted in amazement.

Sakura looked up, dazed and confused. Then her face fell. "Oh god are you stalking me? "

It shouldn't have been a surprise anymore. Gaara had been showing up everywhere. First when Sakura was getting the crap beaten out of her, though she didn't find out until he appeared at the court room and said so. She wasn't surprised anymore. It was getting old.

He ran a hand through his red hair and smirk, but then his face twisted into confusion as he looked at who she was surrounded by. "You know them?" He asked.

Deidara turned to Sakura with the same look on his face. "You know him?"

Sakura looked at the blonde and red head boy. "You know each other?" She asked finally. Was every one of her friends affiliated with a gang? Next Shino was going to say HE was the leader of the Akatsuki….but then he'd be dating Hinata…that was a thought that Sakura didn't want to continue.

"Yeah we know him." Kisame said sourly. "Well, well, Gaara. We've had two lovely reunions today. Who next?"

Gaara roled his eyes and planted himself next to Zetsu, but as far off the seat as he could be without sitting in the isle. He looked at Deidara. "Last time I saw you, you were…." He trailed off, but eyed Sakura.

Exactly what she needed. Sakura looked away, she wanted the embarrassment to stop. Could anyone just let go of what had happened.

"Which brings up the question." Gaara said suspiciously. "Why are you even talking to them Sakura?"

Sakura continued to look away. "Drop it." She whispered hoarsely. Would no one just leave her alone with this subject? Though she admitted sourly to herself that she didn't even know the answer to Gaara's question. Why was she talking to them? The people who had made Itachi beat her up. Why?

Deidara decided to take over the awkward moment and say, "So, how is life with your gang?"

Sakura spared Gaara a glance. All of a sudden, she felt like slinking to the back and hiding underneath a seat. Was everything gang wars?

"Good. Though Hichiko was killed last week due to a certain blue haired boy getting a little violent."

Kisame stood and defended himself. "That was an all-out brawl and that Hichiko of yours was a wimp and you know she was just dragging your gang down. You should thank me for removing her from the face of the planet."

Sakura cringed and faced the window even more. Was she going to cry? She just felt like there was no air in the room. Kisame had killed a girl named Hichiko and didn't even feel bad about it.

"She was in-training you dork." Gaara said. "She was nine years old, what do you expect?"

Kisame killed a 9 year old girl! Sakura cringed and shut her eyes tight. The air was sucked away even further.

What the hll was Ino doing? Had she just disappeared out of the last 3 chapters?!

Sakura didn't feel like turning away from the bus window to find out.

"Um…Kisame-san?" A new voice intruded into the conversation.

Everyone stopped dead what they were doing and turned to see who had spoken. Hinata was standing there. Here hood down and her eyes dark and sad.

"H-Hinata-san." Hidan said in amazement. "Well that's 3 lovely reunions we've had, who's next?" He asked with true curiosity.

"Hello Hidan. Nice to see you too." Hinata said in that all-too perfect voice of hers.

"What are you doing here?" Deidara asked. "I thought-"

"I told Pein that I wanted to live a normal life for a couple weeks, and take a break from all this gang stuff. Looks like I couldn't escape." She said sadly before seating herself across from them.

"Where were you sitting this whole time?" Kisame asked.

Hinata cast a worried look at Sakura. "In the back." She said, motioning to all her stuff.

Kisame looked over at Sakura but she turned away even more and watched the edge of the road rumble by.

"Don't blame her Kisame-san. I honestly wanted to be alone. But if you can't beat them. I guess, join them." She smiled. Her nose ring and piercing in her ears twinkled a little in the dark light.

"No wonder he chose you." Kisame joked. "I guess the leader would like a girl with a good nose piercing."

Hinata laughed that bell of a laugh. "Yeah I guess so Kisame-san. And I suppose your Turtledove has blue skin too?"

Kisame started pouting. "That was below the belt Hinata-san. Un-called for."

The joined together in laughing a little before turning back to Gaara.

Gaara eyed Hinata and then looked sideways over at Sakura, with worry. Sakura looked back at him. If he knew what was best for him, he would just leave. Leave and go away. Those two things have the same meaning….whatever.

"Give my regards to the leader, Hinata-san." Gaara said bluntly.

Hinata stared back at him darkly. "I'll be sure to do that." She said with an icy voice. Then she turned back to Deidara and Kisame. "Well, I don't want anyone to steal my stuff. So I'll be going." She smiled politely, but sourly at Gaara before standing and tottering back to her original spot.

"Kisame, returning to our conversation, I would appreciate it if you kept the violence to a minimum." Gaara said coolly.

Kisame grinned. "You know who's next?" He said in a slimy voice. "That Tenten girl of yours. I know she's not pulling the gang down but she's a trouble to us. I swear, she's been responsible for the deaths of 3 past Akatsuki members."

Sakura's eyes widened. She turned completely around in shock, facing them all. "Tenten?!" She wailed.

Gaara suddenly grabbed Sakura's wrist. And before she knew it, she was being dragged to the back of the bus. Gaara nearly gently sat her down in one of the seats and sat next to her. Sakura put her face in her hands and shook her head.

"Y-You weren't supposed to hear that." Gaara whispered. Turning so that he was blocking Sakura from the view of the Akatsuki. "Don't be upset."

Sakura felt tears emerging. Tenten too? She had just heard a brutal person who had killed a nine year-old say that he wanted to kill her best-friend that turned out to be in a gang and fighting behind her back. How was she not supposed to be upset.

"Gaara." Sakura choked through on-coming tears. "Please tell me that there is a different Tenten who live in our town and is good friend with you." She pleaded.

Gaara looked at her with a trace of pity in his eyes. "Tenten is….special. I was just buddies with her cousin Lee. I was in the gang, way back when I was like eight. After Tenten's mom died she came to live with Lee. He introduced me to her…but she seemed totally suspicious of me." He said, settling down to tell the story. "I felt pressured whenever I was around her. The gang was supposed to be a secret. But one day she came out of nowhere and said she wanted to join. She wasn't trained and had no real skills in anything, but then…" Gaara swallowed hard. "She said she knew a girl…who was friends with one…" He looked straight into Sakura's eyes with a mixture of true sadness in his eyes. "of the Akatsuki members. And if she could make friends with that girl…she could leech information from that girl about the Akatsuki…."

"Me." Sakura muttered in utter astonishment.

"Sakura. I'm sorry."

_**Wow. I think I have AWAWTES disorder. **__**Always Writing About Way Too Emotional Stuff.**__** Yep…that sounds like me. Sorry if the last chapter sucked, but It's going to lighten up a bit from here on out. REVIEW PUH-LEEZ!!!!**_


	19. OO

**Eek! Poor Sakura! And the sad thing is that I really liked Tenten from the beginning. But I kinda…ya-know. I just made her Enemy Number 1.****Muhahahhahahhaa**

Sakura hadn't been sobbing, but the pain was much worse. She dried away the silent tears and stood. "Thanks Gaara. I could have been hurt much worse."

Gaara shook his head, obviously not finished. "Sakura, Tenten is planning to-"

"Sakura-san!" Someone called.

Sakura looked up abruptly and saw Hinata's small figure standing over them. Her face was bright and her eyes warm. She lay one hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I'm truly sorry for your friend." Hinata's voice was light and perfect, and never ceased to remind Sakura of Luna Lovegood. "Tenten is very honorable though. You should not hate her…yet."

Sakura nodded. "Thanks." She said quietly. She noticed for the first time, what Hinata was wearing. A black sweatshirt with the sign of a gourd on it. A purple elastic band was wrapped around her left fore-arm with the sign 'OO' etched in pencil on it. Then there was a slash through the sign. Emo's She thought.

"I'm gonna…go talk to my sister." Sakura quietly got up and slipped past Gaara and Hinata. Hinata followed her for a ways, but only to stop and sit by the Akatsuki members. Sakura continued to the front of the bus and fairly planted herself next to Ino.

"What happened. Have fun talking to your loser friends?" Ino asked without looking up.

"How was your day?" Sakura asked sarcastically.

"Good." Ino replied, obviously knowing it was sarcastic, but answering like it wasn't anyway. "Yours?"

Sakura nodded a little. "Same old, same old, reading a good book, catching up with some old friends. Find out my best-friend is in a gang. You know, the usual."

Ino laughed a little. "Of course."

Sakura looked across the aisle to see a young man with a spikey brown pony-tail, seated comfortably against the window. He had been the second person who came on the bus, one being Gaara, he must have been a gang friend.

"Sakura, look ahead."

Sakura detoured her gaze from the other boy and looked past the driver to what lay ahead. She immediately breathed out a sigh of relief. Upcoming, she could see a small bridge and a group of buildings, with a lake, bordered by canoes and several cars parked in the front. Up higher way back in the mountains, she could see cabins. There was a large field at the base of the camp, several children were standing around by a few large rocks, probably talking.

"Thank heavens." Sakura breathed. "I'm so sick of this bus."

Ino nodded. "Our bags are stored in the side compartment of the bus. We have to get them when we get off.

"You mean YOUR bags." Sakura said pointedly, remembering what Naruto did to her bag. Sakura stood up.

"Where are you going?" Ino asked. "Not to go talk to those A-holes right?"

"I have to go get my carry-on stuff." Sakura said. She stood and quickly tumbled over to where Deidara, Hidan, Zetsu and Kisame were sitting.

"How's Ino doing un?" Deidara asked.

"She's fine." Sakura said with a faux smile. "I don't know what you're so afraid of."

"I'm very afraid." Kisame said. "I don't know how Sasori handles it."

Sakura grabbed her stuff and gave everyone a smile before bolting back to her seat by Ino. "Gosh, they are so weird." Sakura whispered.

Ino nodded in agreement as the bus rumbled over the small bridge and turned around the camp to the side parking lot.

"Looks like we're a little late." She mumbled, looking at parents already packing up in their cars and leaving, with their children waving good-bye from the big field.

"Who cares." Sakura replied.

"I would, if I were wearing your outfit." Ino sneered.

Sakura glared at her for a moment and then turned away. Sakura looked over at the boy across the aisle. He glanced at her for a second and then stood, as soon as the bus doors opened and bolted out.

"Whatever." Sakura mumbled quietly, standing too.

* * *

Outside the bus, Ino pulled out her bags. She tossed Sakura a thin magenta sweater to wear since it was cold, but it wasn't much help. 

Sakura pulled it close around her.

"Sakura, my make-up duffel isn't with my bags. Could you try and find it?"

"Sure." Sakura replied, and began to sift through the luggage in the bus compartment.

"Looking for something?" It was obviously Hinata.

"Yeah."

Hinata reached in past Sakura, muttering an "Excuse me." Before retracting a black duffel back. Sakura looked at it, and saw that it had the same sign of the gourd as the sweat-shirt she was wearing. And a purple band on the strap with the slashed out OO sign on it. Hinata slung it over her shoulder and gave Sakura weary smile before Kisame called her over.

She stared after Hinata curiously before Sakura turned back to sifting through the luggage.

"Found it yet?" Ino asked, her voice was muffled as if she were under some heavy bag.

"No." Sakura replied. "Be patient."

"Okay." Ino replied.

Sakura continued checking for the small duffel. Her hand found a curious strap, it felt like it was covered in elastic. She extracted the duffel. It was black. She found out that the whole strap was not elastic, just the section in her hand seemed to be covered with it. She slowly uncurled her fist, only to be met with O/O. At first, she was extremely surprised. This thing seemed to be popping up everywhere. She looked down at the bag itself and was indeed met with a gourd. She stared at it in wonder. What was this? What the hll was going on here?

She was brought back to the real world when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned, expecting it to be Ino, but instead, she ran into a pair of brown eyes. Stepping back Sakura saw that it was the spikey pony-tailed boy. He had some piercings in his nose and a black sweatshirt. A purple band was wrapped around his left forearm. Sakura didn't need to look to know what was on it.

"Excuse me." He said dryly. "That's mine."

Sakura looked down at the duffel in her hands and absent-mindedly gave it to him. For a second, he stared at her strangely with an emotion she couldn't make out, and then he turned away, muttering, "Thanks."

She stared after him for a second before Ino came up behind her.

"I found it." The blonde said with a sigh. "Hey. Who was that?"

Sakura shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "I don't know… but something much bigger than a simple gang affair is happening. And I fear it's coming to a climax soon."


	20. Just plain creepy people

_**Hey everybody. This chapter is going to suck but review anyway. Haha.**_

"Brrr, it's cold." Sakura muttered. She was walking up to the set of cabins where she was told to go by one of the camp counselors. Her eyes remained on the long dirt and stony path that she had to follow.

"Do you ever stop whining?" Asked Gaara, who was walking behind her at the same slow pace.

"No, I don't, I just keep on whining and whining and whining until you puke and die." Sakura muttered sarcastically.

Gaara mumbled a few words as they continued up the steep path, but the pink-haired girl didn't catch them.

"Where'd your gang friends go?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, probably to go kill someone or something. Go beat someone up behind the lunch hall."

"I'm being serious." Sakura said, turning for a brief second to look at the red-head. Unfortunately, during that brief second her foot caught a rock and she fell flat on her stomach, splayed out on the hard stones.

Gaara tried his best not to laugh. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sakura said, getting up and evaluating her scraped and bleeding knee. She was surprised that the mood between Gaara and herself had changed from, barely-knew-each-other to quite-close-friends in such a short amount of time. They had just gotten off the bus ten minutes ago.

"Can you walk?" The red-head boy asked.

"Yes." Sakura snapped, she stood and began making painfully slow progress on the path again.

"You really don't hike much do you.." Gaara mumbled.

"I don't." Sakura admitted. "My family can't afford for me to be off doing something as silly as climbing mountains, I have to take care of everyone."

"You're exactly that type of person." Gaara said, he reached up and put and hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. "You think you have to take care of everything and everyone and that you are always needed, that you need to play the role of adult."

"Am not." Sakura said acidly.

"Oh really?" Gaara face was flushed with amusement, but then grew serious. "Do you have a dead parent?"

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but then decided against it. She just stared coldly at Gaara and turned, starting up the path again.

"I'd take that as a yes." Gaara said too quietly for her to hear.

Sakura felt the conversation had taken a bad turn and after a few minutes and said as casually as she could. "So you hike?"

"Yeah, I've gone before. Tenten and Lee and I used to go up some gnarly peaks."

Sakura grunted, telling Gaara that she heard him but that she didn't feel like talking about her ex-friend Tenten.

Gaara took the hint and shut up after that.

She could now see the dark brown wood cabins. 'When I get there.' She thought. 'I'm going to take a hot steamy shower and rub my feet and put on my fuzzy slippers.'

But something else caught her eye. A sudden movement in the trees. She stopped and stared off into them. It had been a person. They had run in between two large aspens. But she couldn't see anyone at the moment.

"What? Why'd you stop?" Gaara asked.

"I thought I saw-"

"Um…Sakura, will you sit with me at dinner?"

The question nearly made the pink-haired girl jump. She turned abruptly. "What?" She asked.

Gaara's eyes flashed off into the forest for a second and then looked back at the girl. "Will you sit with me at dinner?" He repeated.

"Um….sure." Sakura replied. She stared at him curiously. There were 3 things that were very wrong with this picture. 1. Gaara and herself weren't that close, even during the last 10 minutes and he already had turned down a request for friendship. 2. He kind of stuttered. Not Gaara-like at all. 3. He said it very quickly, as if to try and distract her. Distract her from whoever she had seen run through the woods.

* * *

"Bye Gaara." Sakura whispered as she stepped onto the porch of the girl's cabin. The boy's cabin was still a ways up. Her hands ached from gripping her backpack. She remembered how Naruto had trashed her suit-case and decided to consider it a gift and a curse as she had no clothes to wear.

"Bye." Gaara turned and waved at her and kept going up the path.

What was up with him? He seemed especially light at the moment. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and paused for a moment. "Hey Gaara?"

The red-head boy turned. "What?" He had a strange emotion n his face that Sakura couldn't make out.

"Who's the young man with the spikey-brown ponytail?" That question had been itching to come out ever since she had picked up his bag and saw the O/O on it.

A flurry of expressions danced across his features for a second.

"Umm…." He looked off into the trees again. Sakura watched curiously. Something was definitely wrong. "He's just a friend of mine. Listen, I have to go, we have assembly in half an hour."

"Okay," Sakura said quietly. She could feel anger well up inside her. What wasn't he letting her in on? She turned on her heel, only to be met with a pile of shoes to the side of the cabin door. She pulled her flip-flops off and stepped inside.

The cabin was dimly lit, with a white tile floor and bunk-beds just about everywhere. Unlike most they didn't have ladders to the tops. Several girls were already stationed at their bunks, fiddling with suitcases and duffel bags. Including Hinata. Wait. Sakura did a double take and indeed, her blue-haired friend was sitting on a bottom bunk, staring at the wooden wall. How did she get up here so fast? If Sakura had remembered correctly, Hinata had stayed down by the dinner hall for a moment to speak to the Akatsuki boys and there was only one path up to the cabins.

Sakura's mind was filled with puzzling questions, but she dismissed them all to continue to scope out her home for the next few weeks. In one corner there was a bunk that looked like it had been lived in for months. Pictures and blankets and a computer even were some of the few things that were around it. She shrugged. Councilor. In the back there was a door. Apparently for the bathroom. She weaved in-between the bunks, which occupied about every inch of space in the cabin and finally made it to the back.

She had been correct. There were three toilet stalls and two showers, plus a row of sinks. "Hehe." She giggled to herself and she turned.

"Oi! Sakura-san."

The pink-haired girl turned to see Hinata peering up at her from her bottom bunk. "How was the walk up here?"

Sakura sighed and looked down at her blood encrusted knee. "Good."

Hinata smiled to herself. "Do you need any help washing that off?"

"No." Sakura replied.

"Um…excuse me." Someone said.

Both girls turned to see a young girl, a little taller than Sakura standing there. She was holding a duffel bag in her arm. Her hair was up in 4 pony-tails. She smiled. "A-Are bunks assigned?"

"Um-" Sakura started to reply, even though she didn't know the answer, but Hinata answered if for her.

"No." The blue-haired girl said. "You can pick yours."

"Okay." The girl said. "Thanks. I'm Temari by the way."

Sakura gave the girl a smile. "Hi Temari. I'm Sakura."

"Hi Sakura."

"And I'm Hinata." Hinata jumped in.

"Hi Hinata." Temari said in the same happy tone. The pony-tailed girl turned and stalked off to find a bunk.

"So, when are YOU going to pick a bunk?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know." Sakura said, again feeling jealous of that oh-so-light-and-perfect voice.

"Well don't stand here talking to me. Go find one."

"Okay, okay." Sakura mumbled she looked around, and finally decided on a top bunk in the midst of all the confusion. She had to use the side to climb up and it was rather difficult, but the top bunks were the cleanest and had fresh sheets, she set her bag down, feeling lucky that she had found a blanket at the bottom of all her carry-on items after a moment of searching.

She lay it neatly over the mattress and sat on top of it, since that's what everyone seemed to be doing.

"Hey. How'd you get up there?" She knew that voice.

"Hi Ino." Sakura muttered.

"Aw, what's the matter? Still feeling upset that your one and only friend is in a gang?"

Well, Sakura HAD been getting over that, but now that her sister had brought it up…."Yes." She replied. "But she's not my one and only friend. I have Itachi."

"And he's in a gang too." Her sister pointed out.

"Well-" Sakura made an effort to defend herself but utterly failed so she just looked away.

The blonde girl was staring up at her with those pretty blue eyes. But her face was littered with traces of mud.

"What happened to you?" Sakura said rudely.

"I tripped." Ino blushed and started preparing her things on the bottom mattress of the bunk next to Sakura's.

Sakura giggled. "Me too."

Ino laughed. "But I think someone's stalking me." She muttered suddenly.

"Someone's stalking you?"

"Yeah. Through the woods." Ino turned and an expression of fear was on her face. "I saw them running to the tree but they were wearing a lot of black so I couldn't tell."

Sakura's mind again jump-started on the person she had seen earlier. She shivered quietly at the thought. Were there such a thing as ghosts? Probably not. But there was such a thing as just plain creepy people.

"What?"

"I saw someone in the woods too." Sakura said absent mindedly.

"That's kinda creepy." Ino was laying on her bunk, her head pressed against the pillow.

"What's creepy?"

Both girls turned with a slight shriek to see who was speaking. It was Hinata.

"N-nothing." Sakura stuttered, jumping down from her bed.

"Okay everyone." Sakura turned her head to the left and saw the councilor standing at the door. A name-tag hung around her neck read, Squeaker. What kind of name was that? "Assembly time."

Sakura slid to the door and pulled on her shoes. So did everyone else. Except for one person.

"Hinata are you coming?"

The blue haired girl looked up briefly and gave a quick smile. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." Sakura said. "I'll meet you down at the dinner-hall." She ran out into the woods after her sister and the councilor, but she could have sworn she had seen the glint of something like a knife just as she had been leaving.

_**Okay, that **__**was really**__** bad chapter, but I haven't been writing for a while and I need to get back on the **__**flooooooowwwwwwww**__**. And Hinata is not **__**emo**__** so that knife or whatever it was, was not for cutting herself. Sorry. **__**Hehe**____** REVIEW PLEAAAAAAZZZZZZZ**_


	21. Over the river and through the woods

"Okay, everyone, now that we've briefed over the whole mission of this camp and what we'll be doing over the next few weeks, you all can head into the dining hall and grab some grub." Squeaker said.

"Hurrayyyyyyyyy…." Ino whispered quietly. Sakura elbowed her sister hard in the ribs.

The whole camp was basically gathered at the door of the mess hall, under the wooden awning. Squeaker stepped back and opened the door, nearly being trampled to death by campers. Sakura followed the flow but upon stepping in, she shuffled off the side.

"Wow. Everyone must be reallllly hungry." She muttered quietly to herself, watching the blur of people go by.

Suddenly, she felt a hand clasp her wrist.

"Wha-" She didn't have time to finish. Before she knew it she was being dragged into the crowd, stumbling about and then she felt herself seated at one of the many round tables in the dimly lit room.

"You forgot our plans? I'm surprised at you."

Sakura looked up and indeed saw the red-head boy known as Gaara smirking down at her.

"What plans?" She said sarcastically, sitting up straight and fixing her hair. Ino and the Akatsuki minus Hinata were seated around her, chattering quietly to themselves.

"Our dinner plans." Gaara joked. "I asked you on the path remember?"

"Ha. Ha." Sakura said flatly. "You are sooooooo funny. Thanks for reminding me by hurtling me across the room."

Gaara grinned. That was the first time she had seen him smile brightly. "I did not hurtle you across the room. You were just lighter than I expected."

"I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted." Sakura said with a pout.

"Take my advice." Gaara said, seating himself next to her. "Be insulted."

"Fine then." Sakura turned her head away and instead scanned the room.

It was so loud one could barely talk, there was food being passed around and drinks being poured (and spilt) every table seemed to have 3 times as many was the number of seats would have allowed. She looked at the counselors, rushing to supply more food and settle disputes.

She made a 'phhhhh' sound and turned back to the table, everyone else was being loud and joking, but something was different. Sakura felt like she was being watched. It was that unnerving feeling of insecurity when someone's stare was so heavy that it nearly made you fall over. She turned slowly, following where that sense was coming from, and where did her gaze lead her? To the table in the far back corner. Perched at it and talking in hushed tones inaudible to probably even a fly buzzing around their heads were the pony-tailed boy and Hinata. Hinata was looking at her "friend" but his eyes were the ones that were boring into Sakura' s back. She returned the glare.

"Sakura, I thought I told you to ignore him." Gaara snapped at her, his hand roughly turning her back to the table, breaking her stare at the mysterious person.

"No you didn't and why won't you tell me who he is?" Sakura demanded in a loud whisper.

"Because, that man is no one you want to tangle with Sakura. Now if you think that I'm not your friend then start thinking it because I am saving your ass by not telling you who he is or letting you mutter so much as a single syllable to him." He reached up and touched her shoulder.

"Why is keeping his name so important?!" Sakura whispered harshly in reply, nearly slapping his hand away. "I can't think of you as my friend if you keep dirty little secrets right in front of my face."

Gaara looked at her with a strange emotion and then sighed. "Fine then. His name is Nara Shikamaru and he goes to your school. There, that's all I can tell you."

"Is that why he's staring at me?"

"No more question's please." The look in his eyes was truly pleading.

Sakura reluctantly nodded and looked down at his hand. "Okay, but don't think you can distract me." She muttered. She tried to sneak back one look, he had been at her mother's wedding. She could have sworn she had seen him…

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong with you?"

Sakura looked up, startled. Deidara was waving his hand close to her face, trying to get a response from her. She shuttered a little and her eyes came into focus. Deidara, satisfied, leaned back in his chair and grinned. "Dreaming are we un?"

"Uh…yeah, dreaming. Hehe." Sakura waved her hands defensively.

"You haven't eaten anything." Kisame picked up a rice-ball and nearly through it at her. Luckily, Sakura was conscious enough to catch it.

"Thanks." She said with a faux smile. She took a miniscule bite and set it down on her plate. "K, I'm done." She made a move to get up but Gaara pinned her wrist the table.

"Please." He said.

Sakura returned to her seat and looked at Gaara. "What are you hiding?" She asked. Why was he so protective all of a sudden, it wasn't like she was going to go talk to the Nara kid.

Gaara looked at her and with one swift motion let go of her wrist and got up, striding through the crowd and right through the door.

"Gosh. What's eating him?" Asked Zetsu.

The Akatsuki shrugged and returned to eating.

Ino punched Sakura playfully in the shoulder. "The question is, what's eating YOU?"

"Nothing, Ino."

"Here." Ino reached across the table and grabbed a bowl of what looked like chunky gravy. "Put this stuff on that rice-ball and it'll taste really good."

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, looking at the glop.

"Yeah." Ino pointed to what had been a rice ball and the gravy but it was eaten.

Sakura shook her head and pushed the bowl in front of Ino. "You eat it if it's so good. I'm not very hungry."

Ino shook her head and just stared at it. "Dido." She mumbled.

Sakura frowned at her sister. "Ino, it's good manners to keep your elbows off the table."

"So?"

"You should be polite and stop propping your head up with your arm."

Ino made a face and turned away. Sakura sighed and shoved her sister's arm right off the corner…unfortunately her head had still been resting on her hand, so Sakura got to watch in horror as Ino's did an first class face plant into the gravy.

Everyone gasped.

A small and high-pitched sound escaped the pink-haired girl as Ino lifted her head back up, unrecognizable by the glop that colored her features.

Sakura giggled a little. "Oh my gosh Ino, I'm so sorry."

"You did that on purpose." Ino growled, attempting to wipe it away from her eyes and mouth.

"No I didn't." Sakura whined. "Here, you want some help?"

"No." Ino snapped. She stood and ran out of the room, followed by hoards of curious and amused eyes.

Sakura stared out of her with a mixture of humility and pity on her face.

"Wow. That was unfortunate un." Deidara said.

Sakura looked at everyone else at the table. "Usually that kind of thing would happen to me…" She mumbled.

Kisame grinned. "You did that on purpose didn't you." He accused.

"I didn't, I swear." Sakura looked at the door and the trail of gravy where her sister had run. It was already dark outside. "I-I'd better go check on her."

And with that she got up and trotted out the door. Brrrrr, it was cold outside. She could barely see, but the light from the mess hall helped a little, though it wouldn't for long.

"Ino?!" She called out, stepping out into the dark.

She started off in the direction that the cabins were probably located, it was about half mile hike up there and she already was consumed by the numbing dark.

"Oh crap." She whispered as she felt around for where the path might be. She stumbled over a tree root and fell into a pointy bush. "Ouch! Dmmit!" She stood up and wiped off her hands on her pants. Detouring from the bush she continued into the dark forest, reaching forward, occasionally swiping a tree branch or tripping on a rock.

'I could have sworn I tripped over that same root half an hour ago.' She said after about an hour of wandering. She stepped forward a few paces. She raised her right foot to take another step but where the ground should have been she felt nothing. Her eyes widened as she didn't even have time to brace herself as she tumbled forward. A single scream escaped her throat as she flipped through the air.

Fortunately, what Sakura thought would certainly be an at least 20 foot drop only turned out to be a 6 foot bank. She landed in a painful position at what appeared to be a stream. An ice cold stream.

"Awwwww that was not fun." She moaned, standing up in the knee-deep water. She stumbled a little. Things would have gone fuzzy if she could have seen anything at all.

'I must have hit my h-head.' Her mind could barely work. She stumbled a little more and attempted to make it to the other side and to safety before she fainted. Suddenly, she felt a hand pinch her shoulder (pressing a pressure point) and everything went black.

_**Okay. End of sucky chapter. IT SUCKS SO BAD THAT IT WILL CREATE A SINGULARITY AND START A BLACK HOLE THAT SWALLOWS EVERYTHING, EVEN YOUR COMPUTER SO REVIEW WHILE THEIRES STILL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_


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